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Posted by Aer0line on October 2, 2006, 7:15 pm
what is the best approach to financial planning for first timers ? also
what is is needed for financial planning?
thankyou
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Posted by joetaxpayer on October 2, 2006, 8:00 pm
Aer0line wrote:
> what is the best approach to financial planning for first timers ? also
> what is is needed for financial planning?
>
> thankyou
>
One needs to take inventory of one's situation.
Knowing what your income is, and where the money is going each month is
a first step. Then by looking at this information, you can decide if
some expenses are out of line, or can't be eliminated.
The next step is to have a goal, whether it's a 'final' goal of retiring
at a certain age, or smaller goals along the way, buy a house, fund a
child's education, etc.
Somewhere along the way is the need to be committed to doing what it
takes to getting on the path that will take you to that goal. For some,
it's the sacrifice of the smaller car, house, or vacation. For others,
it's finding a roommate, or renting out a room in your house. Lastly,
there are those who can completelyt fund a retirement by giving up the
latte and cigarettes, and brown bagging the lunches.
Given the anonymous nature of these postings, you are welcome to
describe your situation and goals, and read the advice the posters here
have to offer.
JOE
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Posted by Elle on October 3, 2006, 7:31 am
1. Identify your goals. Typically they fall into the
following categories:
a) Pay off debts such as car, student, and home loans
b) Save for retirement
c) Save to buy something else (new car, down payment on a
house, a child's college education)
d) Ensuring the providers in the family are adequately
insured
2. Identify whether you are living within your means and so
can save for the items in 1. If not, why not? Use a
spreadsheet to compute your monthly expenses. Adjust your
income or expenses until you are living within your means
and making real progress towards the goals identified in 1.
3. Read, then ask questions about anything you do not
understand. E.g. when saving for retirement, should one
contribute to a Roth IRA or 401(k), or both?
If you just can't understand the answers to the questions
you ask, you can always consider a for-fee financial planner
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Posted by on October 3, 2006, 9:50 am
> Aer0line wrote:
> > what is the best approach to financial planning for first timers ? also
> > what is is needed for financial planning?
> Well you have not provided a lot information. So, if you want a good
[list of things that would be useful for us to know]
> The best approach other than this bulletin board, would be to see a FEE
> ONLY or FEE BASED financial planner (or company). If you have a couple
Actually, before heading off to see any kind of planner, start
with writing up an inventory - you're going to need lots of
information for the planner - mainly the same thing listed
in the previous post. Especially, a list of all assets, all
liabilities/debts, reasonable estimates of income and expenses.
Before sinking money into seeing a planner, I'd recommend
picking up a book like Personal Finance for Dummies by
Eric Tyson. It'll help you put together those lists of
assets and such and, assuming you still want to review
your things with a professional (still a good idea), you
won't be going in there cold.
--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting
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Posted by speednxs on October 3, 2006, 9:53 am
Aer0line wrote:
> what is the best approach to financial planning for first timers ? also
> what is is needed for financial planning?
>
> thankyou
Here are some questions you need to answer:
1) How old are you now? (I've lulled you into a false sense of how
easy this is going to be).
2) How old will you be when you retire?
3) How old will you be when you die? (Every financial advisor needs to
know this.)
4) What is the inflation rate? (3% is a popular answer. Feel free to
try a higher number as well to see if your retirement plan blows up.)
5) How much will you need to live on when you retire?
6) How much of a lump sum does this represent?
7) How much do you need to save to get to #6?
Feel free to come back as these questions bring up sub-questions. As
general advice, the first 5 years of retirement are easy. Don't get
overconfident at this point. Having enough money for the last five
years of retirement is the tough part. Spreadsheets (XCEL) make this
soooo easy to do. I'll never understand why people don't learn to
use them. Hmmm, maybe it's that first year high school algebra thing.
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