Preparation
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When you first meet, a financial planner's initial objective is simply to get to know you — your concerns, your investment personality and your goals. The time you spend talking over your situation sets the foundation for a financial plan that will help meet your specific needs.
You are likely to meet on several occasions throughout the planning process. Early on you will be asked to provide a number of personal financial documents for the planner's review and also may be asked to complete a comprehensive financial inventory. These documents provide the "glue" that connects your conversations about retirement goals with the facts of your current situation and are needed to prepare a financial plan that helps to provide you with a secure financial future. Communication is an absolute essential — the more you share with your financial planner, the better your action plan.
Whether it's something as easily reviewed as your checkbook or something more complex, such as a trust or business agreement, these documents help to ensure that every element of your financial situation is considered in the financial planning process. Here are some of the items you'll need to share with your advisor:
- Two recent paycheck stubs for yourself and, if you're married, your spouse's last two paychecks.
- Bank checking, savings or money market account statements.
- Your 401(k) or pension company benefits plan statements or personal IRA statements showing monthly contributions and any plan estimate of future benefits.
- Any investment account statements — from mutual funds and annuities to stocks and bonds and investment properties
- Any insurance policies including life, disability, hospital and major medical, Medicare supplements and long term care insurance.
- Tax statements from the previous two years showing taxes withheld.
- Credit card, store card and auto loan statements with balances, monthly payments and interest rates.
- Your home's value, mortgage balance, monthly payment and interest rate.
- Any Wills or trusts made by you or your spouse.
- If you own a business, its balance sheets, profit and loss statement, benefits and retirement plan booklets.
- Any business agreements entered into including buy-sell agreements, deferred compensation plans, stock options or bonus plans, and salary continuation plans.
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