Welcome to Financial Planning Fridays, our weekly video series on the benefits of financial planning.

Pablo Picasso said “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” Unfortunately, I never worked with Pablo Picasso but I bet he had a fascinating plan and he certainly lived an exceptional life.

The fact is most Americans don’t have a financial plan that ties their investments to their goals and they absolutely should.

A financial plan is a living, breathing document that projects where you will be year by year against your short-term and long-term goals. This can help you to make much more informed decisions about a variety of important topics including:

• Your investment allocation
• When to retire
• How much to spend or save each year
• Which types of accounts to save into or spend from
• The best way to give funds to family and charity

This document should be updated at least once per year and as your financial circumstances and goals change.

If for nothing else, a financial plan can provide a level of comfort amidst the uncertainty that we inevitably see as a participant in the stock market.

According to a survey by Charles Schwab, 54% of those with a financial plan felt “very confident” they would reach their financial goals, compared to only 18% of those without a written plan.

Our plans are something that consistently lean on during times of volatility to remind our clients that they have planned with this in mind and that, ultimately, we are still in great shape for the long-term.

During this series, we plan to go in depth on important specific planning areas including:

• Probability of success
• Short and Long-Term Risks to a plan
• Investment Asset Allocation
• and a variety of other important planning details

We will show you real examples of financial plans and how they have helped our clients to make decisions over the past 22 years.

Our next video in this series will look at determining the probability of success for a financial plan and what you can do to improve your chances of reaching all of your goals on time. We can’t wait to share it with you soon!

Be on the lookout for our next Financial Planning Fridays episode. Subscribe to our Youtube Channel so you never miss an episode. Or contact us directly; schedule your 15-minute call with us today.