The 12 Questions of Financial Planning
As I’ve written about previously, financial planning is simple, but hard. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. At the end of the day, there are 12 questions you should be able to answer about your financial life. If you can answer them, you have awareness. If you can answer them the way that you want, you are making the most of your money.
The 12 questions of financial planning are:
Do I have a clear purpose for what I want to use my money for?
Do I know what all I own and owe?
Do I know where my income is going?
Do I have access to enough cash?
Am I saving enough?
Can I replace the things I can’t afford to replace?
Will what I want to happen happen when I die?
Will be okay if I become disabled or unemployed?
Am I taking the right amount of risk with my investments?
Am I paying more than I need to for debt / insurance / taxes?
Do I know how I’ll be affected by the Big 8 Threats?*
Do I know what I need to do next?
*The Big 8 Threats are: 1) market losses 2) longevity (both living longer and shorter than expected) 3) failing health 4) rising taxes 5) inflation/deflation 6) unemployment 7) disability 8) cuts to Social Security
How were you able to answer those questions? If you can answer these questions you have awareness. If you can answer them the way that you want, you are making the most of your money.
If you can’t answer these 12 questions, or don’t like how you answered them, then Ataroke can help. We have ongoing and one-time planning engagements to be able to help you regardless of whether your questions are big or small, one-time or ongoing.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you answer the 12 questions of financial planning and start making the most of your money, let’s have a 15-minute conversation.
