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Reaching your financial goals is like a trip. While there are many reasons you need a financial plan, here are six to get you started:

If you dont know the destination, how will you know when youve arrived?

A financial goal is something that has a time frame and that can be quantified. An aspiration such as a "comfortable retirement" is hard to plan for. The financial planning process will help you define and quantify your goals.

Determining a proper investment allocation is critical. An outgrowth of your financial plan should be a plan for the allocation of your investment assets across all of your accounts. The allocation should reflect the goals you are trying to attain as well as your tolerance for investment risk.
Are you saving enough? Whether you want to fund your childrens college education, save for retirement, or buy a new house, most financial goals mean periodic savings. The financial planning process will help you identify how much you will need to save periodically—and in total—for each of your goals.
What will happen to your assets upon your death? Most of us have someone to whom we would like to pass on whatever wealth we have accumulated during our lifetime. Estate planning is a central part of the financial planning process. Do you need a will or a trust? Are your beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and insurance policies up-to-date? What would happen to your assets if you died today? Is this what you intended?
Are you properly insured? Do you have enough life insurance, and do you have the right kind of policy for your situation? Do you have disability and long-term care insurance? Do you need this coverage? A financial plan addresses all of these issues.
Are you fully using all of the benefits available to you through your employer? This question addresses issues from health insurance all the way to your retirement plan to any types of stock options or company stock benefit you may have access to. Benefits generally range from 30 percent to 40 percent or more of your cash compensation, so understanding what is available to you and how to best use these benefits is crucial.
These six reasons barely scratch the surface of why you need a financial plan. In general, the financial planning process can help you take a thorough look at all aspects of your financial life and organize them in the most efficient fashion for your situation.
Finally, do you need to hire a financial planner to do all this?

What a good financial planner will do for you that you cannot do yourself is to take an objective, unemotional look at your situation. He will then apply his expertise, training, and experience to your unique financial needs

Remember: Financial planning is not a one-time event, but rather an ongoing process. The plan is a base from which to make financial decisions, but the plan can and should change over time based upon changes in your personal circumstances.

Retirement is something that’s fairly easy to put off and worry about later, especially when you are young. After all, everything will sort itself out in the end, right? Chances are, you don’t plan to work until the day you die. You may have even envisioned your dream retirement, sipping cocktails on a beach, on a porch in a cozy mountain retreat, or off travelling the world. But it actually takes careful financial planning for these dreams to be realized.

Retirement Planning is important because:

1. The Average Life Expectancy Continues To Rise

The first reason you need to kick-start your retirement planning is the simple fact that people are now, on average, living longer than ever before. A longer life means you’ll need more retirement funds saved to continue to live off of. With the average American lifespan creeping up toward 80 years old, it’s easy to see that you’ll need a substantial sum to live comfortably in your retirement. This is especially true because while the average life expectancy is now nearly 80, people often live even longer than that. If you’re lucky enough to find yourself in the above average bracket, you’ll need to stretch out your retirement savings further than you had planned. That means saving more and planning for longer. The earlier you begin, the better your chances are for having enough retirement funds to last your entire lifespan.

In short, don’t plan for an average life expectancy — plan for more!

2. You Can’t Work Forever

You might be defiant and think you can work until the day you drop, and for some, that may be the dream, but the fact is you can’t perform your profession at a high level for your entire life. As you age, you’re going to slow down and certain tasks will become more difficult.

No matter how much you want to keep working for your entire life, it is no excuse to not save for retirement. Having that money handy prepares you in case you retire earlier than anticipated. Without a retirement fund to fall back on, you’ll be stuck in your “work forever” plan.

3. Retirement Is The Best Time to Check Off Your Bucket List

You know that big list of dream places to visit, and things to try and experience that you’ve probably been making your whole life? Chances are, during your working career and early life, there are often responsibilities at home that make accomplishing them quite difficult. Whether it’s your career, building a growing family, or other circumstances and life events, there are often things holding you back. No longer in retirement, as long as you planned accordingly, that is.

Retirement is the perfect opportunity to go after those places and experiences you’ve seen in photos or videos and always wanted for yourself. You can now collect these experiences and engage in the events you weren’t able to do during your career.

One benefit of retirement planning and having a comfortable retirement also allows you to stay totally in the moment. You no longer have to worry about getting back to work or anything else. You can be carefree with your time. Whatever dreams you had for your life, retirement is most often the time to fulfill them, but it’s only possible if you carefully planned during your career. Otherwise, you may be skimping out on certain experiences and leaving certain items on your bucket list unchecked.

Having a good financial retirement plan eliminates stress and allows you to accomplish these goals. With a strong retirement fund, your money will free you up, rather than hinder you.

4. Your Future May Have More Financial Obstacles Than Your Past Or Present

It’s important to realize that you may indeed experience financial hardships in the future. People are often optimistic about their financial future, living with the faith that things will be better in the years to come, but it’s not something you can bank on.

Your future is not guaranteed, which is why retirement planning is necessary, and once you have a plan in place – stick to it. If you run into trouble later in your life, you’ll have to try as hard as you can to resist the temptation to dip into your retirement savings, although it will be there as a safety net if you need it. Keep in mind, there are sometimes penalties for withdrawing your retirement funds, and you will want to save them for your actual retirement.

This shouldn’t kill any optimism you have for your retirement, rather should show you the importance of having a plan. There will be speed bumps ahead in your life, and you might encounter some money troubles; having a retirement plan will put you in the best place to deal with them.

5. Relying On Social Security Or A Pension Is Risky

While retirement does make you eligible for low-cost medical coverage through Medicare and monthly benefit checks from Social Security, they most likely won’t be enough to give you the comfortable retirement of your dreams. Your retirement funds will supplement what you receive in Social Security, and provide a safety net should Social Security and Medicare ever be taken away.

Medicare and Social Security are meant to supplement your retirement, not be solely depended upon. Meanwhile, pensions have mostly gone away, but also may not be enough to cover the lifestyle you’ve become accustomed to.

Proper retirement planning is necessary in the event you need to cover any long-term care that you may require later in your life. Medicare may not cover every form of care, so your retirement savings may become your safety net to pay for in-home care or a nursing facility.

6. Your Retirement Can Contribute to Your Family, Too

Your dream retirement might even involve giving back to your family. If you have a healthy pool of funds you can dip into, you can be the parent or grandparent that gives lavish gifts to your family, like taking your whole brood on a big vacation or buying a vacation home that you can pass down.

It even makes it easier for you to always be there for big events, you can just chip away at your funds to keep making the flights back to wherever your family might be. It will mean a lot to your family to know that you will always be there when it matters.

Your retirement fund also doesn’t even have to end with you. If you’ve planned carefully and have a healthy sum stowed away for retirement, you may have a nice gift to give your children or grandchildren when your time comes.

7. It’s Unfair To Depend Upon Your Family

On the other side of the coin, imagine your future with your family if you didn’t see the value in planning for retirement. It would then become your children’s responsibility to take care of you. In your retirement, you shouldn’t be dependent on anyone, let alone your own family.

Having a firm plan in place will make sure you don’t become a financial burden on those you love the most. You want to be in a position to help out a family member’s financial situation, not make things worse.

8. You Always Have Enough Money To Save For Retirement

If your immediate reaction to this section was “No, I don’t,” we’re here to tell you that yes you do! While we understand that everyone’s financial circumstances are different, you do have enough to save for retirement. Let us show you how.

When your finances are in rough shape and you’re struggling to make ends meet, it might not appear that you have any money to put aside for retirement. Where is this extra money going to magically come from? The things is, you already have it, you just need to change your mindset.

If you are able to make saving money to help plan for your retirement a priority, you’ll be able to see that you do indeed have some extra funds to build a pleasant future, no matter how dire things seem. Saving money is a challenge for some more than others, but it’s always much more of a mind game than a numbers game. As long as the end result of having a comfortable retirement is of high importance to you, you’ll find a way to save to make it happen.

Another common barrier is time, but to that, we have the same answer: you have it. As long as you prioritize your retirement, you will make the time to set forth a plan for your future, and become motivated to stick to it.

9. Why is Retirement Planning Important Today?

That’s right — today. Not tomorrow. It’s incredibly vital that you start planning for retirement early.

You’ll put yourself in the best situation if you start planning for retirement early on. Accumulating the funds you need for a comfortable retirement may take decades, depending on your income, and you’ll want as large of a nest egg as possible when you are no longer bringing in a salary. By starting to invest in your retirement early on in your career, your funds will accumulate and grow over time, leaving you with a substantial enough fund to fulfill your retirement dreams.

The best news is it is never too early to plan for your life after you’ve finished your career. Now that you realize the importance in retirement planning, you can start developing your retirement plan today.

Benjamin Franklin said, “but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Unfortunately, estate planners have often taken that quote to heart and acted as though estate planning is fundamentally about death and the avoidance of a resulting death tax. To the contrary, the fundamental purpose of estate planning is to leave a legacy for the living. legacy you leave behind.

It seems like many people devote more time to planning a vacation, what car ton buy or eve where to eat dinner than they do deciding who will inherit their assets after theyre gone. Sure, estate planning isn’t as fun to think about as booking a trip or checking out restaurant reviews. But without it, you can’t choose who gets everything that you worked so hard for.

Estate planning isnt only for the rich. Without a plan in place, there could be a long-lasting impact on your loved ones, even if you don’t have a pricey home, large IRA or valuable art to pass on. Not convinced that estate planning is necessary? Consider these four reasons why you should have an estate plan, in order to avoid potentially devastating consequences for your heirs.

1. Prevents Wealth From Going To Unintended Beneficiaries
If estate planning was once considered something that only high net worth individuals needed, thats changed: Nowadays many middle-class families need to plan for when something happens to a familys breadwinner (or breadwinners). After all, you don’t have to be super rich to do well in the stock market or real estate, both of which produce assets that youll want to pass on to your heirs. Even if youre only leaving a second home behind, if you don’t decide who receives the property when you pass away, you won’t have any control as to what happens to the property.

That’s because a main component of estate planning is designating heirs for your assets, whether its a summer house or a stock portfolio. Without an estate plan, the courts will often decide who gets your assets, a process that can take years and can get ugly. After all, a court doesn’t know which sibling has been responsible and which one shouldn’t have free access to cash. Nor will the courts automatically rule that the surviving spouse gets everything.

2. Protects Families With Young Children
Nobody thinks of dying young, but if youre the parent of small children, you need to prepare for the unthinkable. This is where the will portion of an estate plan comes in. In order to ensure that your children are taken care of, in a manner that you approve of, youll want to name their guardians in the event when both parents die before the children turn 18. Without such a will, the courts will again step in. And this time it’s not to determine who gets a piece of real estate or artwork, it’s who will raise your children.

3. Spares Heirs A Big Tax Bite
Estate planning is all about protecting your loved ones, which means in part giving them protection from the IRS. Essential to estate planning is transferring assets to heirs with an eye toward creating the smallest tax burden for them as possible.

4. Eliminates Family Messes When Youre Gone
We’ve all heard those horror stories that when someone with money dies, the warring between family members begins. One sibling may think he or she deserves more than another, or one sibling may think that she should be in charge of the finances even though shes notorious for racking up debt. Such squabbling can get ugly and end up in court, with family members pitted against each other. Its yet another reason why an estate plan is necessary. This will enable you to choose who controls your finances and assets if you become mentally incapacitated or after you die, and it will go a long way towards quelling any family strife and ensuring that your assets are handled in the way that you intend them to be.

The Bottom Line

Simply put: if you want your assets and your loved ones protected when you no longer can do it, you will need an estate plan. Without one, your heirs could face huge tax burdens and the courts could designate how your assets are divided, or even who gets your children.