Paul Gorman

/

Importance of Financial Goal Setting

Published on
Independent financial Advisor
Paul Gorman
Principal Partner
Beaufort Planning

In my previous article we spoke about the importance of gathering accurate data and piecing together your financial jigsaw. If you follow the steps suggested you’ll now hopefully have a good understanding of your current financial position.

In this one I’d like to take a look at setting goals, and working out what is it from a financial perspective you’d like to achieve.

If at all possible, don’t rush into this and also remember ( and this bit may be difficult ) to try and be realistic in the context of your circumstances as you will need to agree all of this with your partner and if you can’t then the courts will.

You may have a reasonably straightforward financial situation with straightforward aims that you want to achieve, or your financial situation and your goals may be more complex.

Whatever your situation, don’t just think of the immediate here and now.

Whilst, that’s likely to be the most pressing for you, also try and think and plan ahead:

  • · Short term – the next five years.
  • · Medium term – five to ten years.
  • · Long term – more than ten years.

Write down all your thoughts, think them through, discuss them with your lawyer. It may be that you decide to eliminate those that are of least importance to you or refine others having taken time to think things through.

If you need help with budgeting and calculations there is some excellent information available at The Money Advice Service.

The calculators help to explore potential settlement scenarios and are able to give you an indication of how financially matters may pan out for you post divorce.

By going through these steps and those suggested in my previous article, you are now hopefully in a position of being better informed about your financial position and have some direction as to where you would like to get to.

Paul Gorman

www.beaufortplanning-westmidlands.co.uk

You might be interested in

PENSIONS AND DIVORCE

Divorce and Your Financial Plan

Published on
Independent financial Advisor
Paul Gorman
Principal Partner
Beaufort Planning

Going through divorce is a very emotional time, so much so, that it is often very difficult to focus upon and make clear decisions about what you need to do about your finances.

This situation can easily become exacerbated if you’ve had none or little involvement in managing the family finances and it can be very tempting to just bury your head in the sand.

Putting things to one side and leaving them until later, is likely to cost you more in the long run, so as hard as it maybe, the earlier you get to grips with financial matters and a have clear picture of where you stand the better you will be and also probably feel.

You’ll need to gather together financial information for disclosure purposes as part of the divorce proceedings and it maybe, depending upon the process you choose, you are asked by your family lawyer to complete a Form E

In general terms you will need to get an understanding of your income and outgoings and all assets and liabilities.

The gathering of some of this data will be straightforward enough and some may be a little more difficult to obtain.

At this point you may need some professional help and assistance on what to gather and where to go to get it.financial plan

It’s a bit like putting together a jigsaw.

Putting the corners and sides in place are relatively easy. Building and completing the full picture can be both time consuming and difficult, depending on the number of pieces you have in your financial picture and its complexity.

But like a jigsaw, once fully complete and you have all the pieces in place, you will be able to see clearly what your current financial position looks like.

The earlier in the process you and the professionals you work with have a clear understanding of your finances, the sooner you can all work together to consider all of your financial options and start to shape and put together your thoughts on an appropriate settlement.

Taking this first important step will help you achieve clarity and give you a greater understanding of your finances. It will hopefully enable you to be more confident and money matters.

In a following article, I will look in more detail at shaping financial settlements.

Paul Gorman

www.beaufortplanning-westmidlands.co.uk

You may also like Paul’s article on INCOME AND DIVORCE 

You might be interested in