It is useful to everyone. Very few can consider themselves too rich to engage in Financial Planning. There are many instances of highly paid employees who came to financial grief merely because they did not plan for their post-career years. Similarly even people earning small amounts of income should undertake this process, as it will help them in prioritizing their goals so that their limited income can be used more efficiently.

Wealth management means taking care of the needs of affluent clients, their families and their businesses as part of a long-term, consultative relationship."

While this sounds similar to Financial Planning (FP), it differs in the sense that Financial Planning is for one and all while Wealth Management (WM) is only for a select few. WM relates more the management of plenty, while FP aims at getting the most out of limited resources.

Financial planning provides direction and meaning to your financial decisions. It allows you to understand how each financial decision you make affects other areas of your finances. For example, buying a particular investment product might help you save adequately to finance your child's higher education or it may provide enough for a comfortable retirement. You can also adapt more easily to life changes and feel more secure that your goals are on track.

A financial plan should include a review of your net worth, goals and objectives, investment portfolio, cash flow, investments, retirement planning, tax planning and insurance needs, as well as a plan for implementing your goals.

The best plan is useless unless it is put into action. Your financial planner will assist you completely in implementing the plan.

It is good to review the plan when there is a lifestyle change such as marriage, birth, death or divorce. Any change in financial position should be evaluated as well. Most people have an annual update that reviews how the plan is being implemented. The review also considers changing goals and circumstances.

It is hard to apply a rule of thumb toward savings, because it varies with age and income level. About twenty to thirty percent of your income is a good start. If you find that is too high for you, don't let that deter you. You can start by putting a little aside each month and then slowly increasing it.

A financial planner is someone who uses the financial planning process to help you determine how to meet your life goals. The key function of a financial planner is to help people identify their financial planning needs, their present priorities and the products that are most suitable to meet their needs. The planner can take a 'big picture' view of your financial situation and make financial planning recommendations that are right for you.

Some personal finance software packages, magazines or self-help books can help you do your own financial planning. However, it is advisable for you to seek help from a professional financial planner if: You need expertise, which you don't possess in certain areas of your finances. For example, a planner can help you evaluate the level of risk in your investment portfolio and revise your asset allocation; You don't feel you have the time to spare to do your own financial planning; You know that you need to improve your current financial situation but don't know where to start; you feel that a professional advisor could help you improve on how you are currently managing your finances.

Consider a visit to your doctor. Without complete and fully accurate details, your doctor cannot prescribe the best course of action. The same applies to financial planning. In order to obtain the best service for your 'financial health' all details and specifics must be disclosed.

Typically, information regarding investments held, number of dependants, income and expenditure details, savings and financial planning needs, etc. The more accurate information you give, the better the quality of advice can be.

Face-to-face meeting is recommended but it is not a must. Comprehensive financial plan can be prepared from the detailed data gathered from you. We have provided a questionnaire for you to fill out, which requires details on various aspects of your financial status, goals etc. Based upon your responses, we will be able to prepare a financial plan customized for you.

The areas where we as Financial Planners can help you are:

• Helping you in better understanding your present financial position
  The questions contained in the Financial Questionnaire require you to list down your assets, liabilities, incomes and expenditures. This is a process of virtually drawing up your own Balance Sheet and will help you gain a better grip on your present financial position.
  
  
• Cash Flow and Debt Management
  Incomes and expenditures can be better matched through the Plan. It also will assist you in identifying whether your borrowings are within prudent limits.
  
  
• Risk Management
  We can help you in identifying your life and property insurance requirements. Evaluating your insurance needs is part of personal financial planning. Insurance usually takes care of your unpredictable needs and as these needs can arise at anytime, insurance is extremely important.
  
  
• Achievement of Financial objectives
  Various financial objectives, whether it is financing our child's education, a house of our own or our post-retirement phase can be better met through systematic investing. A properly laid out investment plan, prepared after considering your risk appetite, time horizons etc. go a long way in helping face the future more confidently.


• Taxation
  Often investors invest with the sole objective of saving tax. We believe that this is not the most desirable method. Investments should be in sync with your requirements, the tax angle being secondary. However, we do not ignore the tax aspect. Optimum Post tax returns are what all investors should be concerned about and that is what we too strive for. It is important that financial plans are tax efficient. The financial plan should help you in minimizing your tax liability and also maximizing your after-tax returns from your investments.


• Inter-generational transfers
  Estate planning is arranging for the transfer of your property to your heirs and to other beneficiaries, in a way that will, as much as possible, achieve your objectives. The most common vehicles for this purpose are the drafting of Wills and setting up of Trusts.

The quality of the Plan depends on the quality of information provided by you. You can help us by providing the requisite information in as detailed manner as is feasible and also sparing the time to meet us at least a couple of times for the same.

On our part, we will guarantee complete confidentiality of the information you will provide and also assure you of the requisite due diligence in plan preparation. We realize that no two clients' needs are the same and will take care to tailor our plans accordingly.

Taxes are said to be as inevitable in life as death and it is our social responsibility to pay them. Taxes are burdensome for all taxpayers. Saving money in taxes is high priority in Financial planning exercise. There are legally permissible ways to reduce taxes and retain more of your hard-earned money in your savings kitty. There are various tax deductions available under the present Income tax act and you should take advantage of them.

There are many financial mistakes that we all make, which are quite common and perpetuated generation after generation. `Financial mistakes', which if avoided, can result in financial freedom and wealth creation. The most common of some of the financial mistakes are as under:
- Overspending
- Delaying or ignoring a Will
- Insurance follies
- Not creating Contingency fund
- Putting Off Financial Planning
- Not starting savings early and not realizing power of compounding

While life insurance is critical to meet financial responsibilities, adequate insurance cover is the key for meeting your responsibilities. So having a cover is not enough - having adequate cover is critical. Life insurance has moved from protecting life to protecting lifestyle. Financial needs can be classified broadly into following two categories.

Protection: if anything happens to the breadwinner, the family continues to be financially protected and maintain the same life style.
Savings: one should be able to generate required corpus to meet milestones such as education / marriage expenses of children, buying a house etc.

There are different life stages for an investor and at each life stage his risk profile could be different. Risk profiling helps investor to find appropriate asset allocation strategy at different stage of life. Like fingerprints, investment profiles of people are always unique. Age, Life stage, income, savings, dependents and mindsets are factors that define a person's attitude towards investments. Risk taking ability and mental frame of mind plays a key role in determining where the investor ultimately puts his money.

The first step in asset allocation is `Risk Profiling'. Risk Profiling combines two key areas:
1) Estimating financial risk-taking capacity and
2) Understanding the (psychological) risk tolerance level of an individual.

Risk profiling can unlock far more value for both investor and financial advisor. It provides advisor clear understanding of investor's mental frame of mind and his personal and financial circumstances.

With increased volatility in capital markets, there is a surge in demand for small saving schemes as a safe haven. Some of these options such as PPF and senior citizen schemes need to be part of asset allocation for investors. Although, it is good to keep some risk free investment in your portfolio as a part of overall asset allocation, there are certain pitfalls.

Asset allocation refers to the process of allocating your investments between different asset classes. Asset allocation means diversifying your money among different types of investment categories, such as stocks, bonds, gold, property and cash. The goal is to help reduce risk and optimize returns. The goal of asset allocation is to create an optimum mix of asset classes that have the potential to appreciate while meeting your risk tolerance level and financial goals.

The Process of rearranging assets to bring allocations to predetermined original level as per Financial Plan. Over time some of your investments may become out of alignment with your investment goals. You'll find that some of your investments will grow faster than others. By rebalancing, you'll ensure that your portfolio does not overemphasize one or more asset categories, and you'll return your portfolio to a comfortable level of risk. Asset Rebalancing forms part and parcel of every Financial Plan.