Get an Integrated Blue Print, aka Business Plan for Life Part 1

5 Principles to Restore Order and keep you well!

Number Four – Get an Integrated Blue Print, aka Business Plan for Life Part 1

Having a plan with the flexibility to deal with changes and life issues is critical, this is the cornerstone of planning. We call it a business plan for life.

This strategy is based on cash flow, tax, and risk impact, rather than products and investments, and can effectively deal with multiple what-if scenarios at any point in time.

Most financial plans presented today are nothing more than elaborate sales gimmicks based on insurance and investments. The starting point is typically a future goal (usually unattainable) and a simple plan addressing how much money you need to invest, and how much insurance you need to back it up. This is usually combined with an overly simplified suitability determination questionnaire that “pigeonholes” the client into a specific allocation.

True wealth management planning should integrate and coordinate all forms of planning. The base should be in cash flow, tax, and risk impact, not products and investments – this provides for a realistic assessment of the viability of the plan to that person’s specific situation, now and in the future planning for the multiple “what if” scenarios of life’s “consistent inconsistencies.” True wealth management endeavors to quantify freedoms – the sole focus should not be on saving as much as you can, but on determining the specific freedoms you can take, allowing you to enjoy guiltlessly what you have sacrificed, disciplined, and worked so hard for.

A Business Plan for Life is exactly that: it regards your estate (everything you own) as a business and manages it with the same hands-on scrutiny it takes to run it successfully.

This results in the creation of a much more serious awareness as to the importance of addressing all areas of planning, the impact each has on the others, and what is needed to protect it all. Next week we will talk about each of these areas in more detail.