Financial Planning = Success

The 6 Areas of Financial Planning

How A Financial Plan Can Help You!

Working with you as your financial planner, we can help you protect your most valuable asset – your peace of mind.  As your financial planner we can help you develop a plan that’s right for your life, and help you build financial freedom.

What’s Included in a Financial Plan?

There are six areas to a financial plan.  We’ve illustrated those areas in the form of a pyramid to show how one area builds upon another.  Many people start at the base of the Financial Planning Pyramid and work their way up.  You may choose to start with the area that’s most important to you right now.  But, since action in one area affects all the others, a complete financial plan must address all six areas.  Do so with the guidance of a professional financial planner and start achieving your goals.

1)  Financial Position

• Do you know how much money you earn from all sources and how much you spend each month?


• Are you spending money that you should be saving?


• Do you have enough money to cover your necessary expenses?

A review of your financial position will give you a better understanding of where you are right now.  Working with a financial planner will help you determine if you’re making the best choices when it comes to debt and may help you discover if you are achieving a balance between your current lifestyle and future expectations.  Taking a look at all areas of your financial life and seeing how they fit together is the crucial first step in creating a plan for the rest of your life.

2)  Risk Management

• If you lost your job, or became disabled, how would you pay your bills?


• If something were to happen to you, would your spouse be able to remain in your home?


• Would your children be able to afford college?

Under extraordinary circumstances, the best of intentions can be swept away.  A financial planner can analyze your situation and help you find ways to protect your income and assets at every stage of your life.  Your planner can help ensure that you and your loved ones can keep doing what you originally planned, no matter what surprises life has in store.

3)  Wealth Accumulation

• Are you getting a return on your investments consistent with the risk you’ve assumed?


• Do you understand the different options that best suit your individual circumstances?

A financial planner can help you review the various options available to you and suggest ways to get results. The goal is to help you maximize the return on your investments, taking into consideration your situation and your personal tolerance for risk. Through periodic reviews, your planner can help to make sure that your investment plan reflects the changes inevitable at every stage of your life.

4)  Tax Planning

• Do you know the latest tax laws and how they affect you?


• Are you keeping as much of your earnings as you can in your own pocket?

It’s difficult to keep up with laws that change constantly and figure out how complex rules apply to your personal situation.  Your financial planner can provide guidance.  It’s his or her job to keep abreast of current regulations and to give you the benefit of his or her expertise.  While only your accountant or attorney may provide tax or legal advice, your financial planner can work with them to coordinate a plan that best suits your needs.

5)  Retirement Planning

• Do you think that you’re too young to start planning for your retirement or, that since you’ve already retired, it’s too late to do anything about it?

Obviously, the earlier you start, the sounder your financial future may become and the more flexibility and freedom you have to choose the when, how and where of retirement.  But even if you’ve already retired, you want to make sure that the money you have accumulated continues to work for you.  Regardless of your age or life circumstances, working with a financial planner can help you to adapt to your changing needs, achieve financial independence and give you peace of mind.

6)  Estate Planning

• Are you sure that your money will be used the way you want and go to the people you want it to after you’re gone?


• If you become incapable of managing your affairs while you’re alive, will your finances continue to be managed effectively?

Proper estate planning with a financial planner can help you to anticipate your future needs and pass on more of your wealth to your family and charities than to Uncle Sam.  It can take into consideration the special concerns of young families with minor children, families who have members with special needs, business owners who need to address succession planning, or grandparents who’d like to help the grandkids go to college.  With a financial plan in place, you can pass on a legacy, not a tax burden, to your heirs.

As A Financial Planner I Can Help!

You may know where you want to end up but, with so many choices, how do you know if you’ve taken the right road?  As your financial planner I can serve as your guide, help you analyze your individual situation and recommend ways to help you achieve your goals.  I will work with your tax and legal advisors to make sure that your financial plan addresses all of your needs.  Each day we face difficulties in managing our finances.  Inflation, taxes, changing interest rates, and stock market swings – their effect can unsettle one of our most precious possessions, peace of mind.  One thing I can be certain of is that the future will come, whether we are financially ready or not.

Financial Planning Is The Key To Getting What You Want

There’s no mystery to financial planning.  What it simply requires is taking a personal, in-depth look at your goals and deciding how you intend to achieve them. Once you determine what you want, you can make plans to get from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow.

Working With You As Your Financial Planner

With a financial plan, you have a far greater chance of achieving your goals than if you don’t plan.  And, we will give you the guidance you need to:

• Reduce taxes*

• Save for retirement

• Decide how to invest

• Manage your debt

• Provide proper insurance coverage

• Custom-design programs to try to achieve your special goals… buying a home or condo, retiring early, financing your child’s education and more.

How Can I Help You?

MetLife’s financial planning services are designed to help you achieve your personal financial objectives.  Your individual situation, priorities and goals are taken into consideration through every step of the planning process.

My planning service was founded on two simple principles: to provide people with a high-quality, confidential service and by listening to you and to giving advice that is in your best interest.

Financial Planning involves 5 steps:

Step 1

No-Obligation Session.  At this meeting, a specially trained MetLife financial planner will listen to your financial concerns and discuss what financial planning can do to help you achieve your objectives.

Step 2

Gather Information.  If you decide to purchase financial planning services from MetLife, we move on to the next and most important step; data gathering.  This is where we learn about all of your financial goals, objectives, assets, liabilities, income, and expenses.  The foundation of a sound financial plan is having a clear understanding of who and what you are.  This information is kept strictly confidential.

Step 3

Analysis and Recommendation.  A preliminary analysis of the information about you is prepared.  This includes reviewing all of your objectives and determining if they are feasible.  As your planner may consult, with your permission, with your attorney, accountant, or other advisor to make sure the data is complete.

Step 4

Final Plan Review.  After all of the alternatives and information is analyzed, a final plan will be presented to you.  The final plan is a written document prepared especially for you by your planner.  It contains specific recommendations designed to meet your financial goals and needs.

Step 5

Update as Needed.  In life, one thing is constant; change.  Each year, and perhaps more frequently, your income, investments, assumptions, and objectives will change.  This is why your MetLife financial planner stands ready to update your plan as needed.

Planning Isn’t Impossible

The beauty of your plan will be your ability to change it.  This kind of flexibility is to your advantage because your goals will change as time goes by.  There’s no need to put off planning.  The time is now.  Creating a plan with a professional financial planner from MetLife Resources will help you to know where you want to be and how you’re going to get there.

Download the appropriate data gathering tool, today, and get started toward financial success and peace of mind!



Click on the appropriate link below to download your "homework" assignment.  This is the 1st step in achieving your financial independence.

Fact Finder Download 

Homework Packet

Lumen Inventory

Asset Allocation Questionaire





*MetLife Resources financial planners do not provide legal or tax advice.  You should contact your tax advisor for details on how any financial plan will affect your personal legal and tax situation.