Top 7 Excuses Not To See A Financial Planner

A consultation with a financial planner can be one of the best decisions you’ll ever make with your money. Although you may have a pretty good idea what you’re doing with your wealth, a financial planner’s entire career revolves around the subject, increasing the likelihood of them knowing a good deal more about personal financial planning than you. They are licensed individuals with a great deal of education and/or experience in matters ranging from superannuation management, investment, tax, or estate planning, cash flow tracking, and more. Their number one goal is helping you to financially secure yourself and your family by deciding where and how much to allocate in various investments.

Despite the great advantages a consultation and subsequent meetings with a financial planner can offer, many people balk at the thought of conferring with one. The following are the top seven excuses people tend to make when it comes to taking the reins on their financial situation and opting to see a planner.

1. “I don’t need a budget.”

   Handling your finances without a budget is like trying to bake a cake without previous experience or a detailed recipe to back you up. The ‘ingredients’ might work for you occasionally, but if you want the highest level of efficiency, then a budget is absolutely necessary. And it’s not enough to simply consult “how-to” books if you truly want a budget that will work for you and allocate your income in the most effective manner as possible. This is where a financial planner would excel. These professionals take their clients beyond the basic mantra of “live below your means” and create a tight budget to work for you and your lifestyle without being too constraining in the frugality aspect of finance.

2. “I’m too busy!”

   Looking at this from a cost-benefit analysis, what is more concerning: short term time constraints (which prevent you from seeking the advice of a financial planner) or your long term financial stability, including, but not limited to, your retirement years? Looking at it from this perspective, don’t you think giving up a few hours of your time (if that) in order to meet with a finance pro about your short-term and long-term financial situation would be worth the sacrifice?

3. “I’m too young to be worrying about retirement.”

   In a day and age where even money-savvy teens are concerning themselves with their future well into their golden years, saying that you are “too young” for something is preposterous. This mindset can be lethal for anyone wishing to retire in their 50’s or 60’s; the longer you push it off, the harder it becomes to catch up on years of missed savings opportunities once you start coming up on the accepted retirement age standards. In fact, when you examine the rule of 72 (a mathematical calculation for the time it takes for an investment’s value to double), getting started as early as possible on your retirement savings can be the most desirable way to accumulate the greatest amount of wealth without having to physically work for every cent.

4. “I don’t have money to invest.”

   A financial planner would help with this problem in two ways: first, they would help you create or amend a budget. Next, with a new and improved budget, they would be able to help you find areas to cut back on in order to increase the availability of investment funding each month. Given that Australia is still muddled in the worst consumer credit crisis in decades, there is a chance that there is leftover debt to be paid off, but even if this is the case, a financial planner will not only help you rid yourself of this burden as quickly and cost-effectively as possible, but get you on the road to higher savings once you are declared debt-free.

5. “I can’t afford a financial planner.”

   Actually, it’s more like you can’t afford not to see a financial planner. When you compare the costs of visiting a financial planner with the costs of trying to handle your own budget and investments without the thorough knowledge of an expert planner, the do-it-yourself route is almost guaranteed to come with a steeper cost. If you don’t know much about cars, you don’t attempt to fix it yourself, do you? You take it to a professional mechanic. The same concept applies to finances.

6. “Financial jargon is too confusing.”

   On the contrary, actually. Financial planners are specifically break down confusing financial terminology into simplified concepts that anyone can understand. They would lose all of their clients if they didn’t explain thoroughly explain everything, so rest assured, your financial planner will be able to help you sort through the mess of financial terms and notions with ease.

7. “But my partner already handles everything.”

   There’s nothing wrong with allowing one spouse to control the finances, however it’s generally a rather good idea that both partners know what their family financial situation looks like. This is imperative because in the case of an unexpected death or incapacitation of the finance-savvy partner, you might need to take the reins on your finances. A professional financial planner can help you and your partner to collectively improve upon your investment knowledge base in order to stabilise your finances and get the most out of your assets.

When it comes to a financial planner, you cannot afford to avoid these professionals. Their advice is invaluable for dozens of reasons, particularly for the benefit of your financial solidity from the status quo, all the way into your retirement years. Instead of making excuses, find a way to have at least one consultation with a qualified planner. Chances are, you won’t regret it.