The following tools and forms are available to help you organize all your financial planning information. Below are links to a secure, confidential questionnaire, a tutorial if you would like to understand it better before beginning to use it and lastly a PDF version if it is easier for you to print it out and fill it out as you go. We are always interested in feedback so let us know how you feel about this tool.
Budget Spreadsheet [Download]
This one is no fun at all. It isn’t easy figuring out what you actually spend each year. Although we recommend you try to fill this out, you don’t have to; we have other ways to figure out what you are spending. We don’t need to know how you spend your money. We do care a lot about what you are saving.
Three “food for thought” questions as you embark on working through the financial planning process:
- What do you want to get out of it?
- How much do you want to be involved?
- Why are you turning your attention to this now? (This may help you answer the other two questions)
We have posed these questions to help you make better decisions. We ask a lot of questions. We want you to discover the people to work with, the investing philosophy and, the way to implement that works best for you.
Interview questions you should ask a financial planner or advisor
- Here is our ADV Part II Brochure [Download] . Every Registered Investment Advisor has one on file and you should ask for it if it is not shared.
- “Tough Questions to Ask a Financial Planner” — A top fee-only non-profit financial planning association created this list.
- Be sure to read “10 Things Financial Planners Won’t Tell You.” It was published in SmartMoney on June 16, 2009. Quite an eye opener.
