Financial Planners generally take a holistic approach, advising you about every aspect of financial well-being. When you hire a financial planner be ready to discuss everything from budgeting, emergency savings, college funds (for you and your children), retirement lifestyle goals, and so on.
Based on these conversations, financial planners will then recommend investment or insurance instruments (or products) to you. There is a very wide variety of different services and offerings financial planners offer but they are known as investment specialists in Retirement Planning, IRAs (including Roth IRAs), and 401(k) related investments.
Many individual retirement account (IRA) instruments are tax-advantaged investments so that the money you invest grows either tax-free or tax-deferred. Before jumping into an IRA though a financial planner might ask you if your employer offers 401(k) investments with a company match sometimes as high as $1-for-$1 up to a certain amount!
If you are ready to live the dream® by playing the long-game in investments you should consider begin interviewing potential financial planners today.
Wiseradvisor, for example, provides a comprehensive list of financial advisors throughout the country. They help match you with a few financial advisors near you that you can interview. Be sure to find out which professional designations the advisors hold (see section Regulations for more information on professional designations) which carry various levels of responsibility to you. For example, not all advisors are fiduciaries. Check them out as www.wiseradvisor.com.
While Financial Planners are known as investment specialists in Retirement Planning, IRAs (including Roth IRAs), and 401(k), Investment Advisors are known as investment specialists in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs.