5 really valuable ways financial planners help you that you may not have considered

When was the last time you paid to enjoy a meal in an expensive restaurant? With Covid, it might have been some time ago, but cast your mind back for a moment.

Did you choose the restaurant because of the food alone, or was it the attentive staff and friendly service, or maybe the atmosphere and décor? Like so many services we buy today, it’s not only the “goods” that make something value for money, it’s the experience and feel-good factor they bring too. 

Using a financial planner is no different. While the performance of your investments is, of course, a key consideration, there are many other factors that could provide you with a sense of financial wellbeing.

Read on to discover five things a financial planner provides that you may not have considered, and why they could help provide you with peace of mind.

1. Making sure any investment is right for you

When you speak to a financial planner, they will take the time to understand your goals and situation and, using these, will typically create a wealth strategy. This is effectively a roadmap outlining how you could reach your aims.

A cornerstone of this strategy could be exposing investments you already have to greater potential growth. To do this, the planner will research your existing investments to ensure they are the most suitable for you.

Part of this includes looking at two key areas of your investments, which are:

• Cost: you may want to keep the charges associated with your investment to a minimum, or be happy to pay more for an investment run by fund manager. A planner will help you understand which option may be better for you and why.

• Attitude to risk: key to investing is understanding how much risk your money is exposed to in order to generate potential growth. A planner will ensure you fully understand this, explain the level of potential growth the investment offers, and how much protection your money would have should the markets drop.

2. Monitoring your wealth to keep it on track

A financial planner can help you monitor the performance of your investments to ensure they stay on track. They will also provide options if your investments are not performing as well as hoped.

This helps take away the stress of not knowing what to do if your investment is not on course to achieve your aims. It also means you have a point of contact for sharing your concerns and discussing ideas, helping you avoid a knee-jerk decision that you later regret if, for example, the markets take a downturn.

3. Providing financial coaching to help you make the right decision

Likewise, having a financial planner who provides coaching could help you better understand your financial situation and investments. This could help ensure you make decisions you later thank yourself for.

The coaching could provide tips on budgeting, how to be more tax-efficient, or how to create a financial safety net for when life throws you a curve ball. This could allow you to build your financial confidence and make you much more savvy when making decisions.

4. Helping boost your sense of wellbeing

Research by pension provider Royal London reveals that working with a financial planner can help reduce levels of stress around money and make you feel in more control of your wealth.

As you can see from the charts below, people who have a financial planner and receive advice feel more in control of their finances, more financially stable, and less anxious about their money.

Source: Royal London

5. Reassuring you about your future

Royal London’s research also shows that working with a financial planner can help you feel more confident about your future.

This might be because you and your planner have created a long-term financial strategy that provides you with the knowledge and comfort that you’re likely to have the lifestyle you want in retirement.

It could also be because the planner has helped you create a financial safety net, meaning you’ll more likely to be able to cope financially if life throws you a curve ball.

Get in touch

If you would like to discuss how we could help you feel more relaxed around your wealth, and enjoy financial peace of mind, please contact us on info@extinvestments.com and we’ll be happy to talk.

Please note:

This article is for information only. Please do not act based on anything you might read in this article.

The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.