This post is sponsored by the CFP® Board. All opinions are mine.
When my twins were born, my husband and I went from a family of two to a family of four overnight. We were prepared for the late nights, double feedings, and having two of everything, but there were a few more changes we had to consider.
We were going from two incomes to one as I was going to be a stay at home mom.
We were going to have to save for two simultaneous college educations.
Our health insurance now had to cover four people.
We needed a bigger car.
And that was just the beginning. We are pretty organized people, and have no trouble making sure our day to day bills are paid on time and that we know where our money is going.
But what we didn't know is where SHOULD our money be going?
Is it more important for us to save for college or retirement? How much should we put in our health savings account? Should we buy or lease a car?
These are the questions that we just didn't know the answer to. But we knew it was important to make a plan.
So what did we do? We started by listing out our short and long term goals. Then we took our list to a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional to make sure that we were doing things right from the start.
Are you ready to make a family financial plan of your own? Here's what you need to get started.
Start with Your Family Financial Goals
There is no one size fits all when it comes to making a family financial plan. Everyone has different goals and timelines. The first step to starting your plan is to sit down and make a list of your financial goals. I'm making this easy with a free printable financial planning goal worksheet.
You can download the worksheet for free by clicking on the button below.
FREE
Once you've downloaded and printed your worksheet, it's time to discuss your goals.
Start with your short term goals. These are actionable goals that you expect to achieve in the next 1-2 years. They can be big, like buying a new home, or small, like starting a savings account. Write down the top 5 things that you would like to achieve in the next year or so.
Next, start thinking about your long term goals. This is where you'll brainstorm things like retirement, college, or long term care for yourself or your loved ones. Write these down in the second box.
Finally, think about what major life changes you expect in the next few years. Of course, we don't know what the future holds, but if you are planning to expand your family, to move, or to change employment these are important to consider when it comes to your finances.
Now Make Those Goals Happen
Making goals is easy. Making them happen requires a bit of knowledge and understanding of how finances work. That's why we hired a CFP® professional to help us navigate what steps to take to achieve our financial goals.
Our family's finances are not something that I would put in the hands of just anyone. We are talking about my children's educations and our retirements. That's why it was important to us to hire someone we could trust, and looking for a CFP® professional was at the top of our list.
Anyone can call themselves a financial planner, but a CFP® pro is different. That’s because the CFP® certification is the symbol of excellence in financial planning. In fact, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals are rigorously trained in 72 areas of financial expertise and must accrue thousands of hours of experience prior to earning their certification.
And, all CFP® Professionals are fiduciaries – meaning they are legally bound to act in your best interest. This seems like a no brainer, but it's an important distinction when talking about YOUR money and future.
When you hire a CFP® professional, you know that you are getting the real thing: someone who can help you turn your financial goals into a roadmap that you can follow, all the way to retirement.
Thanks to our financial planning, we are now on the path to save money for our twins' education and to someday retire at the beach. We've also been able to finish the home remodeling project that we've always wanted to do (and realized that it was better to upgrade our current home than to move).
And I know that we have an ally in our CFP® pro, so that as our life changes we can adjust our plan, with a knowledgable professional guiding our way.
Ready to head down that road too? Locate a CFP® pro near you by clicking here, and make a plan today!
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