What a plan is
A document with a contents page, and one page people actually use.
“A financial plan” means nothing until somebody shows you the contents page. Here is this one.
Contents
- 01Where you actually are
Net worth, cash flow, and what your money is doing right now. This part is bookkeeping and it is usually the part that changes people's minds.
- 02The decision in front of you
The reason you rang, worked through properly with the numbers, including the option of doing nothing.
- 03Cash and the year ahead
How much should be liquid, where it should sit, and what it is for. Boring, and the thing that most often prevents a bad decision.
- 04Tax, as it applies to your situation
Account types, ordering, and what to do in which year. Not tax preparation — your accountant does that, and I write to them.
- 05Insurance and what would happen
What breaks if somebody dies or cannot work. I do not sell any of it, which is why this section sometimes says you are over-insured.
- 06Retirement, as arithmetic
What has to be true for the numbers to work, and what to change if it is not. No projections dressed up as predictions.
- 07What to do, and in what order
The last section and the one people actually use. Numbered, dated, and short enough to put on the fridge.
- —And one page at the front
The numbered list of what to do and in what order. Short enough for the fridge, which is where several of them end up.
Ten weeks, and the first fortnight is you
- 01
A free half hour
Whether a plan is the right thing for you at all. Some people need an accountant, some need to talk to their partner, and some need nothing.
- 02
Documents
Statements, tax returns, the benefits handbook nobody reads. Gathering this takes most people a fortnight and it is the real work of getting started.
- 03
Four sessions, about ten weeks
Where you are, what you want, what the numbers say, and then the decisions. Your partner should be at all four rather than briefed afterwards.
- 04
The written plan
Thirty to fifty pages, and a one-page ordered list at the front. You own it, and you can take it to anybody.
- 05
Ninety days later
One more session to look at what actually happened. Usually about half of it, which is normal and worth planning around.