The Financial Plan And Planners – Part 1

Some of the material in this 3 part post are excerpts from the publication:  Wall Street Journal – Guide To Planning Your Financial Future, by Kenneth M. Morris and Alan M. Siegel, published by Lightbulb Press, 1992.  Now if it sounds like that publishing date brands the content as too old to be useful, understand one very important reality.  Most of what you need to know to plan your money future effectively are fundamental and timeless principals.  They provide guidance at a strategic level, as opposed to lower-level techniques that provide plan execution details.  So, as you read keep that in mind.  The material I cite from this source is strategic in nature.

All text contained in quotes comes from the publication cited above.

“A professional financial plan begins with a profile – a questionnaire that a planner completes in an initial interview.”  “Profiles vary in level of detail and sophistication.  The more elaborate they are the more customized information they provide.  The cost is more as well.”

At this point, I’ll insert that the software tools of our 7 step MINT Method provide you a self-guided process for assembling your own profile, of whatever complexity you choose.  This profile is produced by our PlanButVerify-Lite software, which is downloadable for free.  So, our method gives you the profile at whatever level of sophistication you are willing to work to.  IMPORTANT – the more sophisticated the profile, the more our method’s guidance output will be unique to you and therefore of far greater value.  AND IT’S FREE TO YOU.

“The financial plan itself…summarizes the information you’ve provided, explains financial planning strategies, and recommends specific steps you should take to achieve your objectives.”

Our MINT Method goes far beyond the plan described above.  The free LITE version of the software actually produces a set of formal financial statements – the Balance Sheet and Income Statement, as of the current moment.  These statements present your financial status in a form recognized as professional quality.  And the purchase of the full PlanButVerify suite produces a set of these reports for every year you have projected you, or your spouse, will live!  If you currently have no idea of what the Balance Sheet and Income Statement are, and why you should care, just know that the MINT Method will make you a WARRIOR on that, and a whole lot more.

But for now, to understand the value of our MINT Method’s output, call a professional planner and request that he/she prepare for you what we give you – Balance Sheets and Income Statements for life, based on your profile.

If the planner can even provide an estimate, you’ll be stunned by the cost.

I am in no way suggesting that you avoid using a professional planner.  What I am saying is that before you seek help from a professional you should do your homework first.  You can build your profile using our tools and then visit the professional planner with the product of your own work in-hand.  You will have your act together!  And it will set you apart in the eyes of your planner.

And let’s focus a bit further on the professional planner, and what our MINT Method means to him/her.  The planner benefits because you will have put in effort to collect your info and formed your profile, and if you have invested in the full suite of PlanButVerify you have probably played around with future decisions and money behavior.  And have drafted a plan that shows the potential to really work!  In this case, your planner has seen, at the least, your commitment to help them help you!  And if you have tried your hand at working out what you might need to do to succeed, imagine how much more capable your planner will be to get to the meat of his/her assistance:  decisions and actions!

So, my final point here is:

• Invest, up front, your own efforts into planning.
• Don’t try to offload all responsibility for your future to the professional planner.  That is neither fair nor rational.
• Recognize that what you can get from your professional planner is guidance.  For successful results, you must look to yourself.

Our MINT Method starts you successfully, and keeps you successfully involved for life.

(Please continue reading in Part 2 of this post.)