Financial planning is more than a luxury reserved for the chosen few

While it may seem obvious to some, the idea of working with a financial planner is often misunderstood.

Saying, “Those are just for rich people,” is like saying you’ll ride a bike because you cannot afford a Mercedes. In this article, I want to share some thoughts as to why I believe anyone, and, yes, I said anyone, serious about gaining and maintaining financial independence should work with a financial professional.

Before I get into the reasons to work with financial professionals, let me dig a little deeper into the why question above. I believe the real question is, “Should I pay for advice when I can get it for free?” The simple answer is, “You get what you pay for.” The other side of the story is when you reap the benefits below, many times, the cost of the relationship is dwarfed by the value received.

The first reason I would like to talk about is something we all know we need more of. What is it, you ask? In a word—accountability. I’ll say it again—accountability. Can you imagine your favorite sports team firing all of the coaches? Yes, coaches may draw up plays, but, more than anything else, they hold the team and individual players accountable. How does this relate to your financial relationship? An example would be that you are determined to have a specific amount of savings by a certain time. Your advisor, your accountability coach, will hold you accountable for the action of depositing and, more importantly, leaving the savings alone.

The next reason I want to throw out is there are simply too many choices in terms of places to put your money to ever do enough research. With thousands of mutual funds, stocks, bonds, alternative investments and insurance products available, you could spend years just researching, and never get down to making sense of it all and, ultimately, formulating a plan based on your unique situation. Hiring a competent, experienced, licensed professional to do the research and formulate a plan saves time, energy and confusion.

A final reason to be considered is the ever-changing economic, tax and political landscape with regard to your financial journey. Having in place a financial team always keeping an eye on changes, which could impact your money, is like having an extra set of eyes watching the house at night.

I know that in this Internet age, many Web sites make it seem as though, with a few clicks of the mouse, you can manage your money with no human interaction necessary. In a market always going up and taxes always staying low, that would be correct. In the real world, this is merely a marketing ploy to convince people to self-medicate. Does having access to The Home Depot make one a master carpenter? Neither does having access to online trading make someone a financial planner.

Gold Leaf Advisory is located at 2929 N. Power Road, Suite 101. For more information, call (480) 285-1998.