Financial Planning

Tailored Ongoing Advice

Financial planning provides direction, measurement and meaning to your financial decisions. It allows you to understand how each financial decision you make affects other areas of your finances.

Instead of saying you want to be “comfortable” when you retire or that you want your children to attend “good” schools, you need to quantify what “comfortable” and “good” mean so that you’ll know when you’ve reached your goals.

For example, buying a particular investment product might help you pay off your mortgage faster or it might delay your retirement significantly. By viewing each financial decision as part of a whole, you can consider its short and long-term effects on your life goals. You can also adapt more easily to life changes and feel more secure that your goals are on track.

The financial planning process involves gathering relevant financial information, setting goals, examining your current financial position and coming up with a plan for how you can meet your goals given your current situation and resources.

In the process your HFS Financial Advisor will work with you to set measurable financial goals and specific targets of what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve results. For example, instead of saying you want to be “comfortable” when you retire or that you want your children to attend “good” schools, you need to quantify what “comfortable” and “good” mean so that you’ll know when you’ve reached your goals.

Each financial decision you make can affect several other areas of your life. For example, an investment decision may have tax consequences that are harmful to your estate plans. Or a decision about your child’s education may affect when and how you meet your retirement goals. Remember that all of your financial decisions are interrelated.

Financial planning is a dynamic process. At HFS we review your financial plan each year because your financial goals may change over time due to changes in your lifestyle or circumstances, such as an inheritance, marriage, birth, house purchase or change of job status. We revisit and revise your financial plan as time goes by to reflect these changes so that you stay on track with your long-term goals.