7 things I learnt becoming a Certified Financial Planner
On Saturday, I sat an exam to become a Certified Financial Planner™. It was the end of 18 months of hard work, having to complete a Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning before I was able to sit the exam to become a Certified Financial Planner™. So, what did I learn in that time:
7 things I learnt becoming a Certified Financial Planner
You have to look at the big picture all the time. That’s what everyone does anyway. If I have a business, an investment property and a pension plan, I will look at them all as sources of income, all doing different things at different times. None is to be discounted ahead of the other.
Cash is good. An Emergency fund is the first step in creating a financial plan. You need money on deposit ‘just in case’. I’ve lost count of the amount of people with large deposit accounts who’ve got phone calls from their bank trying to sell them an investment bond without even asking why that money is there.
You can have the most dynamic, exciting plans imaginable, but unless you’re retired, people are reliant on their salary to fund their plans. You need to insure your salary.
Life cover is designed to replace lost salary, not to make your family unbelievably rich should you die. You can make better use of your money.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your financial future. You have to work on it over the years and constantly tweak it.
Prioritise. There are constant demands on our cash so we can’t do everything that we need to do, so we need to do what is the most important first. You can come back to the other stuff at another time.
An unactioned financial plan is a waste of time. You are better off giving the fee you paid to charity.
Oh, I also learnt loads on tax, accounting, valuing stocks and bonds, pensions, risk benefits but that’s all boring stuff that you’d expect your financial planner to know anyway!
