When January 1 rolls around, it doesn’t automatically mean you’re a new person or that the year ahead will be any different than the year before. However, the beginning of a new year is an excellent time to reevaluate your financial planning efforts – or finally get something started that you’ve wanted to do for a long time.
Recognize That Money Changes
The economy, of course, impacts finances, especially investment plans. Your finances need to transform with you and you need to transform with your finances, making choices that are prudent and effective so you stay financially sound now and later.
Keeping on top of economic transformations is daunting, but you don’t have to give yourself that responsibility alone – a financial advisor is the one who can show you how economic changes have affected your finances, and how these changes will affect all areas of your life.
You’re a New Person Too
A lot of things can happen in a year, from changing jobs to losing a loved one, getting married to having a child, buying a house to selling a house. Your finances may stay steady or fluctuate wildly in ways that you never imagined. The key is to be prepared for anything, good and bad, and that is possible when you establish a personal and malleable financial plan.
From decade to decade, especially if you start financial planning early, you will see how your own financial and life goals change. When you’re single, your priorities are different than when you’re middle-aged and thinking about your kids going to college and what your investment risks are. But the shifts that occur between a person’s 20s and 30s too are significant, and the choices you make when you’re young will be very different than what is significant when you’ve gone through the many ups and downs of living and retirement is on the horizon. As you experience life, evolve, and mature, priorities change too.
It’s Never Too Early to Make a Financial Plan
Financial planning is not static. You don’t make one set of decisions and that’s it for life. When you make changes for yourself or your family, your finances need to adapt with you – and that includes your financial planning.
Don’t drag your feet about establishing financial decisions because you haven’t reached personal milestones or areas of growth yet, because you haven’t reached a certain age or marital status, because you haven’t achieved the job you want yet. Whatever you decide today can be changed next month or next year. Life transforms and so do you – and so does your relationship with money and your ever-evolving financial plan.
Work with a Financial Advisor
Nothing is set in stone with your financial plan. The strategy is to adapt, and make every document and decision work for where you are in life right now and where you want to be years from now. Get the financial planning support you need from the experienced financial advisors at Hollander Lone Maxbauer in Southfield, MI. Schedule a consultation to talk about financial planning.
