Personal Financial Planning
28 September 2016
No one should be without a financial plan. Read our guide to get started.
Personal financial planning brings focus and organisation to your finances so you can utilise them effectively. Your plan is not set in stone. Your ambitions, just like your finances, may change and you should update your plan to reflect that.
Assess Your Current Financial Position
There are two important exercises you need to undertake:
Assets & Liabilities - the difference between what your own (assets) and what you owe (liabilities) is known as your 'net worth'. List all your assets (cash, home, stocks & shares, pensions) with an approximate value for each. Next, record the value of current liabilities (mortgages, loans, overdraft, credit card debt) and deduct from your assets to find out your net worth.
Income & Expenditure - Calculate your disposable income by working out total monthly income from all sources and subtract your monthly outgoings.
Set Financial Goals
List your financial goals, think of them in terms of timescale and give each a priority value. This will allow you to focus on those you hold most important and enable you to reconcile what you want to achieve with what you are able to achieve.
It is important to regularly review your financial plan in order to measure your progress and ensure it accounts for any major changes to your financial position.