retirement planning advice
Written by Paul Jones 
on 13 Jul, 2023

Are you someone who lives from paycheck to paycheck and is tired of the same? If yes, it is time to plan and secure your future financially. The task can be challenging, especially when you cannot figure out your financial goals. In such situations, engaging a trusted and reputable financial advisor in South Melbourne can help you plan and secure your future and achieve your long-term financial objectives.

Planning your finances provides better control over your income and expenses. Essentially, financial planning offers several benefits, which are listed below:

  • Increases your savings
  • Ensures a better standard of living
  • It keeps you prepared for family emergencies or job loss
  • It provides peace of mind
  • Facilitates wealth creation
  • Aids in children’s education
  • Helps plan for retirement
  • Assists in combating inflation
  • Helps save taxes
A financial advisor is a finance individual or company that evaluates your current financial standing, utilizes its financial knowledge and expertise to help you figure out your long-term financial goals, and drafts a plan to achieve them. The plan includes different aspects of personal finance, such as increasing your savings, insurance, investments, tax planning, income budgeting, and retirement planning. In short, a financial advisor helps chart a map of your financial future.
Here are the five essential steps to develop a winning financial plan and secure your future with a South Melbourne Financial Adviser.

Defining your financial goals serves as a roadmap for financial planning. The process should:

  • list achievable and measurable goals
  • lay down clear timelines
  • Separate needs from wants
Once done, these objectives must be agreed upon and documented with your financial planner to help measure progress. Equally important is to include provisions for regular reviews and adjustments, for your financial goals are bound to change with time.

Understanding your current financial condition helps you determine the gap between where you are and where you want to be financially. Collect all documents relating to your finances, including investments, bank statements, insurance policies, and other financial documents for your financial advisor to review.

Once you have gathered all your financial information, collaborate with your financial advisor and analyze your income, expenses, debts, investments, savings, and assets to identify areas requiring immediate attention.

Once you have analyzed your financial information and identified areas of improvement, the next step is to draw up a financial plan. Your strategic financial planning advisor will review your financial goals, age, risk-taking capacity, available investment amount, and timelines to develop a customized plan including all your financial aspects, like income budgeting, insurance, investments, tax planning, and retirement planning. The plan should also incorporate provisions for contingencies, like family emergencies, loss of job, or unforeseen and unexpected medical expenses.

Once your financial plan is ready, it is time to implement it. Your financial advisor will coordinate closely with you and liaise with other financial professionals to implement new or adjust existing financial strategies, obtain insurance coverage, set up investment accounts, and optimize tax strategies.Remember, financial planning is an ongoing process requiring regular monitoring. It is crucial for many reasons:
  • It helps keep track of your financial progress, ensuring it is in sync with the financial plan and goals,
  • It helps monitor the performance of your financial products and replace them with better-performing ones, and
  • It allows you to adjust your financial plan with a change in income, goals, business, or family circumstances.

Benjamin Franklin once famously said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. Planning your future financial security can help you overcome financial horrors and lead the comfortable life you always dreamt of. However, remember the road to financial freedom cannot be traveled alone. Engaging the services of South Melbourne financial planners, like SFS Online, can provide you with the right expertise, analysis, and discipline needed to secure a stable and prosperous financial future.

Paul Jones

Director & Senior Financial Adviser Paul Jones is a Partner and Senior Financial Planner at Strategic Financial Solutions. He co-leads the business with Kay Aarons and plays a key role in client investment strategies and the Compliance Committee. Paul holds a degree in Science, an MBA, and a Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning. A Certified Financial Planner, he continues to pursue further education to deliver exceptional client outcomes. Paul is also an avid cyclist, and a connoisseur of fine wine and good food, and enjoys theatre and family time.