WHEN TO SEE A FINANCIAL PLANNER

The following article first appeared in the summer of 1992 edition of
"The Balanced Report".
It is still appropriate today.

Every few weeks someone comes to us for advice, after it is too late to do anything about his or her problem. In these cases it is very sad and frustrating to have to tell the person it is too late to change what has happened. Of course, they don't want to hear us tell them "You should have seen us before you signed that contract, or filed that tax return". In a recent case, a client could have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by structuring the sale of his business differently. In some simple cases it is just a matter of getting advice on how to treat a particular income amount for tax purposes, or about the term of a mortgage renewal. In these situations we can do very little after the fact, but we can see that they don't make a similar mistake and reorganize their affairs or investments to avoid problems in the future.

Get advice from a qualified Financial Planner BEFORE proceeding with any of the following:

Selling or starting a business
Accepting a retirement offer
Marriage/Re-Marriage/Separation
Selling a property other than your principal residence
Changing your country of residence
Receiving an inheritance
Receiving a windfall, or lottery winnings
Purchasing a major investment
Incorporating, or starting a partnership venture
Taking out a mortgage/loan or a renewal of
Purchasing Life or Disability Insurance
Signing a new will

There are probably others, but these are the most frequent requests and the ones where we can help the most. In many cases, we supply these services without charge to clients for whom we handle all of their investments and insurance. In other cases, where there is a fee involved our clients tell us that the advice saved them far more than the cost of our services.

Copyright – www.money-software.com

About the Author

Peter F. Baigent CFP, CLU, CHFC, RFP. is a Past President of the Canadian Association of Financial Planners for British Columbia, a former Director of the Canadian Association of Financial Planners. He has spoken across Canada on financial planning matters and has taught courses for the Chartered Financial Consultants & Certified Financial Planners degrees. He is the founder of Money Minders Software which produces financial planning software.

When It Pays to Hire a Financial Professional (Morningstar.com via Yahoo! Finance)
Four situations when do-it-yourselfers can be penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Money makeover: Single mom (CNN Money)
When you're the single parent of an only child, you want only the best possible life for your kid. That's how Jacqui Sentmanat feels. But it's an expensive proposition.

Learn how to manage your money now, and you'll be on stronger financial footing when you're an adult (Knoxville News Sentinel)
Children may be the future, but as a teen, you are tomorrow. Before you know it, you will be earning your own income and living in the real world of financial responsibility.

Through a Glass Darkly for August 28, 2008 (The Advocate)
When I see advertisements for how big the lottery jackpot has grown, I sometimes daydream of what I could do with a gazillion dollars. Lots of travel to exotic places might top my list. The trip my youngest son and I have planned to New Zeeland would happen as soon as I cashed in the winning ticket.

Back-to-school shopping can be a good lesson itself (Courier-Post)
When Diamond Emory and her daughter Makaiah arrived at Wal-Mart to buy her fifth-grade school supplies, they encountered much to entice a young shopper.

Home page

Information Index