Financial Planning — What Is It?

At PBS we believe in creating a partnership with you: guiding you to make informed decisions, and helping you work towards the things you want from life. Our approach is personal, because your financial plan should be.

Understanding what financial planning actually is — and recognising the value of good advice — is the first step. Whether you're just starting out or refining a strategy you already have, we're here to help, one step at a time.

What is financial planning?

Financial planning is about designing a strategy that fits your life goals and your financial aspirations, and that prepares you for the unexpected. It isn't only about building wealth for people who already have it. It's a roadmap for the financial choices that run from buying a home through to retirement.

The milestones along the way

Life presents significant milestones, and each has a financial dimension:

• Starting your career or a new job — understanding your income, managing debts, and looking at pension and savings options.
• Buying a home — saving a deposit, understanding mortgages, and preparing for the responsibilities of ownership.
• Family — marriage or children mean adjusting your savings, your protection and your investment strategy.
• Retirement — understanding your pensions, your investments and where your income will come from once you stop working.
• Estate planning — deciding how your assets pass on, and protecting the people you leave them to.

How does financial planning help?

It works as a continuous, adaptive process rather than a one-off exercise:

• Setting clear goals — putting your financial objectives into words so effort goes somewhere useful.
• Informed decisions — each decision is made in the context of your overall financial health, so everything pulls in the same direction.
• Managing risk — preparing for life's uncertainties through insurance, emergency savings and a clear-eyed view of investment risk.
• Peace of mind — the security that comes from having a plan for the future.

The value of good advice

A good adviser brings expertise in financial products and providers, but also an objective perspective — helping you make decisions that fit your own circumstances rather than someone else's. Expert guidance helps you avoid costly mistakes and adapts as your circumstances change, much as a navigation system reroutes when the road does.

The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invested.

Ready to start?

Take a look at financial planning at PBS, or get in touch and we'll talk it through. Your first conversation is free and there's no obligation.