A holistic approach to financial planning has the advantage of making plans and goals based on your financial situation as a whole. This is a valuable service if you're looking to make long-term goals, gain financial security and stability, and make it easier to react to big financial changes like making a big purchase or switching jobs. Here's how it can help.

Proactive Approach 

Because holistic planning takes into account your entire financial situation, it's one of the best ways to plan for the future in a variety of ways. In the short term, it can help you through things like paying off debt or making a purchase, but in the long term, it's useful for helping you prepare for other things you might need and want. This includes having money put away in case of medical emergencies, making investments, and planning for purchases like a house or getting ready for kids.

This helps even if you aren't sure what your long-term financial goals are or should be. An advisor can take a look at your situation and make recommendations. Being able to prepare well in advance for everything from long-term purchase goals to possible emergencies is a big advantage and worth the effort.

Reactive Approach

These services are also very helpful if you're currently going through a tough spot or if there has been a significant change in your life. Holistic financial planning and advice help make the transition between big life events easier to manage. This includes a change in employment, buying a house, having kids, or trying to work your way out of debt.

Seeing a financial planner during big shifts in your life is beneficial whether you've seen one before or if you're new to the process. If you're seeing a planner for the first time, it helps to have records on hand like your employment history, your current income, prior years' tax documents, and other records that can help your planner get a feel for what your overall financial situation is like. If you're looking to do something like tackle debt, also make sure you bring in statements that show how much debt you have and where it currently is.

The holistic approach can help you make long-term goals even as you attempt to deal with a short-term problem, such as prioritizing how you pay off your debt or where you spend your money to put you in a better position to keep moving once you've reached your first goal.

Retirement Planning

Planning for retirement can be tough if you aren't exactly sure what you are looking for. There are several different types of retirement plans, and the ones that work best for you can be affected by your employer's options, your current income level, whether you own a business or not, or if you're trying to manage multiple plans at once.

Retirement planning can also be a consideration regardless of your income level. Your planner might recommend starting something like a brokerage fund from which you can make different kinds of investments, or suggest a tax-deferred annuity that can complement any retirement plans your employer may offer. Since there are so many options available, it's worth asking how you can benefit regardless of how much you make.

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