Transcript
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My name is Julie Asti. I’m a Certified Financial Planner, with Asti Financial Management, and
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I’m going to talk today about how to create a financial plan. There are actually quite
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a few ways to create a financial plan, based on your own financial situation. They can
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become very complex, or they actually could be very simple, depending on what your needs
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are. I’ll start with a simple process. Really, when you’re looking to create a financial
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plan, the first thing that you’re going to want to do, is to create a budget, and I know
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that, that sounds like it’s a painful process, and it is to a lot of people, but it really
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doesn’t have to be, but a budget is a really important key part of creating a financial
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plan, because what it’s going to be telling you, is what amount of income today, you have
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coming in after taxes, what your expenses are, your fixed and your variable expenses
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are, including things that are unforeseen, like car repairs, gifts, camp for the kids,
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vacations, things like that, but what you’re really trying to get, is your bottom line.
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You’re going to look at your income that’s coming in. You’re going to look at all of
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your expenses that you have, and you’re going to find out what your net is, and your net
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is going to be, hopefully, a number that’s in the black, meaning it’s going to be positive,
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so that after you’ve paid your expenses each month, you have money left over. If you find
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when you create a budget, that you have a negative number at the bottom, really the
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only two things that you can do, are to increase your income, or to decrease your expenses,
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but it’s going to be hard to create a solid financial plan, if you don’t have a positive
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number, or at least you’re at a break even, but really, what you’re going to be doing,
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when you create a financial plan, is looking at what your financial goals are. It could
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be buying a car, in three years. It could be buying a home in five years. It could be
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sending your kids to college, in seventeen years, so they can be short, intermediate,
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or longterm goals, so really a financial plan is, all come down to creating a budget, that’s
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going to be a working budget for you, and that’s going to be positive, and that’s going
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to be attached to specific financial goals, that you would wish to accomplish. The more
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complex side of creating a financial plan, goes much deeper. As people find that their
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situation gets a little bit more complex, a financial plan grows to encompass things
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like retirement planning, and making sure you’re saving enough today, to fund your retirement
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in the future. Estate planning needs, which can be living will, and a living trust, risk
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management, which includes all of your insurance coverage, your health, your medical, disability,
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property and casualty. It can also include tax planning. It can also take a look at investment
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planning, which is a key piece of your financial plan, what your portfolio looks like today.
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How to allocate it properly, how that might grow in the future, and then it all starts
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with still creating that budget, so as your situation gets more complex, there’s a lot
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more variables that come into play, creating a really solid, comprehensive financial plan,
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and to do that type of planning, I would highly recommend working with a certified financial
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planner. My name is Julie Asti. I’m a certified financial planner with Asti Financial Management,
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and you can learn more about my services, and my company at: www.astifinancial.com.