A year and a half ago, I joined a gym. I really enjoy going, there’s loads of classes and it’s downstairs from my office so it’s handy to get to whenever it suits me. After my first year membership wa up, I assessed the progress that I had made…not very much. I was still about the same weight and looked about the same. Why? Because I didn’t really know what I was doing. So I decided to hire Zane, a personal trainer in the gym. The first thing he did was sort out my diet. While my diet was generally alright, my portions were simply too big (a quarter of my dinner plate is now empty!). He also worked on specific programmes to work different muscle groups. Finally, he gives me a kick up the arse if he feels that I am not working as hard as I should. Working with a trainer for the last 4 months I have lost 7 kilos in weight and I feel fitter and stronger than I ever had.
Like I am using an expert in personal fitness, a lot of people need an expert in personal finance. You could be plugging away for years and not seeing your financial situation improve because you are doing it wrong.
A financial planner will ensure that the first thing you do is put the correct structures in place so you can build wealth and achieve your goals. They will factor in large expenditure events that will occur along the way. For example, if you send your kids to private secondary school and then university, you are looking at 10 years of large annual expenditure for each child. Have you planned for that so that capital markets can pay for some of that instead of you shouldering all the expense?
As experts in their field, they can show you if there is a better way of doing things, something you could not be aware of as it’s not your day to day job.
Of course, a big difference is when you see the results. The results are a lot more immediate in personal fitness. Personal finance is a lot longer game. A cornerstone of personal finance is retirement planning, something that is decades in the making. It is not until you retire that you will see the benefit of such long term planning. That is why it is good to have someone to be accountable to, so if you decide to live for the now instead of the long term, they can show you the long term effect of not doing what you said you would do.
What areas do you feel you need expert advice to make the difference? Let me know by emailing me at steven@bluewaterfp.ie