Comprehensive financial planning is the overarching process of mapping out each phase of your financial life. This is more than managing your money and investing wisely. The process includes, for example, saving for retirement, paying for your children’s college educations, rewarding yourself with a well-deserved trip to Tahiti, and retiring when you want to! 

Thoughtful planning should address issues such as: 

• Cash management
• Tax mitigation 
• Saving rates
• Paying down debt
• Investments for the future
• Insurance for various risks
• Estate and legacy planning
• Ensuring you have enough income to last in retirement

If you don’t have a well-thought-out strategy that aligns your finances with your goals, you need a comprehensive financial plan. This involves evaluating all of the financial aspects of your life so you can make informed decisions about money in and money out, where it goes based on your comprehensive financial plan. 

Because your circumstances, timelines, risk tolerance, and goals can be different from others, we will customize a comprehensive financial plan based on your family’s specific needs. It’s about turning the results of your hard work into a comprehensive financial plan that achieves all of your life’s goals. We combine your input and our expertise to produce a plan that includes your working, transition, and retirement years. 

We start by looking at your financial life from the 5,000-foot level. This way we can see the forest for the trees. From here, we can start to see every aspect of your financial life that will impact the achievement of your hopes and dreams. With this overarching view, we can align our current recommendations with your future goals for accumulating and preserving wealth. 

Now imagine all of the parts of your financial life working together to produce the desired outcome. The parts include 401(k)s, IRAs, college funding, Social Security, retirement, health care, and your estate plan (for instance, your will and trust).

We start with your strategy for accumulating wealth, the achievement of goals during your working years, the management of your transition from working to your retirement years, and a comfortable, secure retirement for the rest of your life. 

Learning more about you from the very beginning plays a major role in our comprehensive planning advice and services.

The foundation of individualized financial planning is you and your family. It’s about learning your ambitions, priorities, preferences, and fears. It’s also about discovering what challenges you have or must overcome in order to get where you want to go. This is the foundation of a planning service that meets your needs and goals. 

Perhaps your #1 priority is making sure your retirement savings will last the rest of your life (both spouses). Or, maybe you want the security of knowing you can fund your children’s college educations. 

There are a lot of reasons for accumulating and preserving assets during your lifetime. Our role is to provide the specialized planning and investment knowledge that helps you get there. 

After the initial get-to-know-you and planning phases, we can develop and implement an investment strategy that is based on your goals and tolerance for risk. You can take on more risk if you are younger, but your capacity for taking risk declines as you age. The bottom line is that we help you make the right financial decisions.

When should you seek a financial planner? 

It is never too early to hire a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ who can help you sort through all of the challenges associated with financial security. Our research shows your potential risk for failure is much higher when you are not guided by a financial plan that is based on your unique circumstances and goals. 

It goes without saying that you could benefit from hiring a financial advisor who can help you answer these questions:

• Do you feel overwhelmed by your current financial situation? 
• Do you lack the needed amount to fund your retirement?
• Is your investment performance meeting expectations?
• Are your investments diversified to minimize your risk of large losses? 
• Are you buried in debt and need a way out? 
• Do you feel lost and don’t know which way to turn?
• Do you have a realistic budget and the discipline to stick to it?
• Will you retire when you want to and live the way you want to?

Leave it to a financial planner at SGL to help you craft a plan that suits your needs. The planner will even monitor your progress along the way and report your results. This dedicated professional will be there to keep you on the right track.

At SGL, our ultimate goal is to help you accumulate and preserve wealth so you can live with financial freedom for the rest of your life. With a firm understanding of your financial circumstances and goals, we can provide the following financial services:

• Retirement planning
• Investment planning
• Asset allocation
• 401(k) rollover assistance
• Income planning
• Long-term care and medical insurance 

Our core services are planning for what the future brings, managing risks that derail the best-laid plans and investing based on goals and your tolerance for risk. 

The beauty of comprehensive financial planning with SGL, located in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove, is that it unifies all the various services you need from one source. There is no reason to outsource your work to several firms when SGL can be your one-stop shop. 

Comprehensive financial planning can also include other aspects of your finances, which can include charitable giving and legacy planning. SGL can even help you select the right insurance coverage to minimize other types of financial risks. 

By working with an SGL professional, you can be sure you have left no stone unturned in your quest for financial security. You can increase your odds of financial success by selecting the right team who puts your needs first. 

Make sure you know your financial advisor’s credentials

Optimizing the probability of achieving your financial goals is paramount for planning a secure future. Whatever your plan might be, it will have to be flexible enough to evolve with the financial realities that impact your well-being over long time periods. 

Here are four ways the right financial advisor can help you organize and optimize your financial life.

Consider how these financial advisory services can save you money and time. 

1. Stay invested and think long-term. Retirement may be years or decades away. You may have a lot of time to recover from any material market downturns. Having the right professional by your side may add the discipline you need to make the right decisions for your financial future. 

2. One of those is to stay invested, so you participate when the markets start their recovery. It is important to note the markets move in short spurts based on outlooks that are months in the future. You have to be invested to participate. 

3. Make sure your investments are delivering competitive returns and that your assets are growing. Are you sure your current investments are delivering returns that are commensurate with their risk? Having an expert by your side takes the guesswork out of investing.

Our investment advisors will evaluate your current investment strategy and present you with their findings and recommendations. You will know right away if your assets are delivering competitive rates of return. Diversification is your best way to minimize the risk of large losses. 

In an ideal world, you want to own an array of investments that do not all go up or down at the same time. For example, part of your portfolio is delivering positive returns when other parts are delivering negative returns. There are several levels of diversification that should be reviewed with your financial advisor. 

4. Do your homework before you invest, or choose SGL professionals who can do that for you. You are busy working or enjoying your retirement years. You don’t have time to find and research investment alternatives for your assets. 

This is the role of the financial advisors at SGL. We find investments, research them, and recommend their inclusion in your portfolio. Then we monitor what we recommend. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ can be relied on to recommend investments that fit your requirements and tolerance for risk. 

You are not alone; an SGL financial advisor does the work so you can spend more time doing what you enjoy. SGL’s comprehensive reporting and reviews keep you informed about the performance of your assets. Plus, the team at SGL (Buffalo Grove, IL) has the expertise to recommend changes when they are warranted. 

The benefits of hiring a financial advisor can be substantial. You will have a plan that is custom-tailored to your financial situation. The plan will evolve over time with your financial life. 

If all goes well, your children could potentially go to the right schools, you could be set to enjoy your retirement years, and you would not run out of money late in life when you need it the most. No matter your age or current circumstances, hiring an experienced licensed professional can be one of the best financial decisions you ever make. 

An experienced financial planner can help you:

• Develop a plan for your working years.
• Strategize a plan for your retirement years. 
• Prepare a plan for your estate and legacy 
• Determine your post-retirement income
• Develop realistic budgets (pre and post-retirement) 
• Select the right healthcare providers
• Plan for potential long-term care issues 
• Develop schedules for paying down current debt 
• Invest for income and stable principal 

Based on a solid plan and a well-thought-out investment strategy, you can turn your financial dreams into reality. 

If you’re looking for a financial advisor, make sure you select an acknowledged financial fiduciary who is held to the highest ethical standard in the financial service industry. Fiduciaries are required to put your financial interests ahead of their own. Common sense says every financial advisor should have to do that, but that is not how the industry works. 

Some financial advisors are not held to that standard. According to a FINRA survey, 17% of investors don’t even know what they are paying in investment fees. You should require this in writing and make sure you know what you are getting for your money.

Use these 19 questions when seeking and interviewing a financial advisor to help ensure your success. 

Bottom line, a financial planner can help you develop a custom-tailored plan that is based on your circumstances, requirements, and goals. Then the planner can keep your plan up-to-date for any changes that may occur over time. 

The ultimate goal for planning is to make sure you retire when you want to, live the way you want to, and never run out of money (the biggest financial fear for 50% of Americans). 

Ask us about getting a retirement stress test to evaluate your retirement risk zone.

Connect with a financial advisor in Buffalo Grove, IL, at SGL to discuss creating a customized financial plan that is based on your circumstances, concerns, and goals. You can rely on our team to lead the way to a more secure financial future. Call or contact SGL to schedule a convenient introductory call so we can learn more about you.