Life Planning delivers a life worth living

Life planning delivers a life worth living!

We all want to live a meaningful life doing things that we want to, without the yoke of crushing responsibilities. We all want a happy, contented life, without money worries. The general impression is that money smoothens the way in life & earning and managing money is hence of paramount importance. 

Financial Planning  – That is what we do in Financial Planning. It  starts with understanding the needs/ aspirations of the family & their financial situation.

The financial planner analyses & checks feasibility of achievement, comes up with alternative scenarios, evolves a strategy that would work best for the client and then holistically comes up with suggestions on what they need to do regarding past investments/ insurance, liquidity/ contingency requirements, future surplus deployment in appropriate assets after due consideration of their risk profile, years of service left, dependencies in the family, when the goals are coming up etc.

All of us have goals – like buying a home, a second home, foreign holidays, cars etc. We focus on these and plan to achieve these goals, overtime. In fact, in financial planning, these are the kind of goals we come across and plan for. 

We assume that working to fulfil these goals is what we call life. This makes life dreary & listless.

For most of us the pursuit of money is a big part of our lives & we spend our waking hours chasing it. Life is not always about money, though, it may be an essential ingredient to ensure that life goes on smoothly. Money is merely a means to an end. 

Blindly pursuing such goals, which to start with, seems like the right ones to go after, does not bring happiness or fulfillment and may actually be taking us in the opposite direction.  That’s why, one may find people who are miserable, even though they are very successful.

Life Planning – When we pursue goals that are not the heart’s core goals & spend time and energy achieving it, we feel tired, burnt out, exhausted.

Life needs to be lived. It should be exciting, elevating, meaningful, filled with vigour & crowned with a true sense of achievement. For that, we need to divine as to what we really want in life.

Life Planning is what addresses this. This is a new area where the focus is to find out what is truly important for us in life… what will deliver that freedom from the bondage of a pedestrian existence. What would give us the vigour & vitality to look forward with anticipation to the next moment, next day…

We all want to live a fulfilling life, not just in terms of money alone. We want a life that is truly energising, authentic, liberating, that gives us a tremendous sense of freedom, the opportunity to become that person whom we truly want to become, achieve our highest potential & live an authentic life that is meaningful to us. That is precisely what Life planning seeks to deliver.

Life Planning is about creating the design of a life that is truly what our heart desires. But how does one do it?

We need to envision the life we want first. When we do this and see life the way we want it to be, we would experience a tremendous excitement about the truly elevating experience it can become.

Once the life vision is clear, we draw up a financial plan to give shape which puts a financial architecture in place to support that life plan. 

Finding out our life’s purpose –  There is a life planning methodology which assists in getting this understanding. There are exercises & questions which helps one to be in touch with what can make life special & enormously fulfilling. 

Once we discover the true, heartfelt goals and see the vision of that wholesome life we can create, there is a surge of excitement. The Life Planner acts as a guide & mentor and paints that ideal life for the clients to see.

This may call for rework of the life as it exists today.  There will be thrill as well as trepidation as it is a leap into the unknown. Obstacles may present itself.  The Life planner would give them strength & support to the one doing the life planning exercise.

The next step would be to consider all these goals, create a financial plan & implement it so that the life ahead is smooth.

The Life planner’s role –  The life planner helps the client to discover what is that they truly want in life. They act as the catalysts to truly transform their client’s life.

The client will need to discover the path ahead, what should the life ahead look like etc. The Life Planner facilitates the process of the client getting in touch with their heartfelt core goals & create the vision of their abundantly fulfilling life.

The Life Planner holds & keeps the torch of their dreams burning till the client is able to reconcile with the adjustments needed & gets back the strength & fortitude to make it happen.

Then a financial plan which accommodates the new life is drawn & the recommendations implemented. From time to time, the Life Planner is in touch with the client to find out if they are on track and offer any guidance that may be required.

Done well, Life planning can deliver a new life! It’s powerful & clients would forever be grateful for transforming their lives.  This would be a relationship that will last a lifetime!