Financial Planning Career Guide and Counseling

Question: Financial planning? I am planning to move out for my first time and I would like to know about how much do I need to have saved in order to live without worrying?

Answer: Experts say that you need to figure out what you spend each month and then times that by 6. Because they say you need to have atleast 6 months of bill money in the bank in case you lose you job.

Question: Career in financial planning in different countries? I am now working as a paraplanner in Australia. However, my husband is working in China and I really want to be with him. But I do not want to give up my career as I believe that financial planning is a great career and I am so happy with my job. I have no idea about the Chinese market. Could I find a financial planning job there? How much will I be paid?

Answer: Get HIM to come over, unless you think that living in China somehow beats living in Australia.

Question: Why do people delay personal financial planning? People need financial planning at every stage of their lives, whether it be debt reduction, buying a house or a car, marriage, divorce, and the biggest concern of most working people ---retirement. Why don't more people realize that the financial decisions they make today have a direct effect on the life they will be able to afford tomorrow?

Answer: Take your pick. a) No discipline. b) No education in finance -- a product of our public schools. c) No goals for the future -- just live for today. d) All of the above.

Question: As a manager of a financial planning business you have two financial planner? As a manager of a financial planning business you have two financial planner. In an hour, Phil can produce either one financial statement or answer 10 phone calls, while Francis can iether produce 3 financial statements or answer 12 phone calls. Deoe either person have an absolute advantage in producing both products? Should these two planners be self-sufficient or specialize?

Answer: Francis has an advantage. They should be specialized. Francis should make the financial statements and Phil should answer the phones.

Question: What is good financial planning software that can be used in confuction with dave ramsey plan (microsoft money? What is good financial planning software that can be used in confuction with dave ramsey plan (microsoft money) or something that is very good

Answer: I set up his budget form (modified to our specific bills) on Excel. Now that was about 4 years ago. Now he has software (about $25) available on his website or subscribe to My Total MOney Makeover section of his website and you can do the budget there (link below). Or Crown Financial (originally started by the late Larry Burkett who Dave gives a lot of credit to) has budgeting forms and online software. (Link below) Crown also has software (last link) Both would be the best way to stay completely in line with Dave's principles. Both of the on-line subscriptions have free trial periods.

Question: Where & how does one start financial planning for onself? Please suggest an approach / road map, steps to financial planning that is executable by a salaried individual. I would like to avoid any middlemen or agents.

Answer: Your public library. The first book I would recommend is called "The Automatic Millionaire". It is nothing groundbreaking or new. I can't believe this guy got rich off of writing these books. I would never buy one of his books. But I read them at the library. It is full of 100% common sense. Very important common sense. Follow it. Don't try anything that involves "tricks", paying someone else to predict the future for you, or anything like that. (You can predict the future just as well as the professionals.) Personal finance is indeed 100% common sense.

Question: As a manager of a financial planning business you have two financial planners, Phil and Francis. In an ? As a manager of a financial planning business you have two financial planners, Phil and Francis. In an hour, Phil can produce either one financial statement or answer 8 phone calls, while Francis can either produce 4 financial statements or answer 10 phone calls. Does either person have an absolute advantage in producing both products? Should these two planners be self-sufficient (each producing statements and answering phones) or specialize? Be sure to show your work.

Answer: google it

Question: Is a financial planning position good for a college student majoring in accounting? I'm planning to become a CPA. Currently, I'm in college (1.5yrs left) and work part-time as an accounts payable. Recently I was asked to come work at a CPA firm as an assistant in financial planning. The pay and hours are really good compared to my current job. However, I'm not sure if learning the new things in the financial planning position will stress me out. It's all very new to me. Even though I'm not a brainiac, I am a very hard worker. But is that enough? I just don't want this job to take away too much time away from school. I'll be taking very difficult accounting courses. I was wondering if I should stay at my current job OR take the new job and learn new things. Will this work experience look better on my resume? If i dont take this job, then will there be lots of other opportunities like this after I graduate? Will this get my foot in the door of the CPA world even though I won't be doing any accounting work? EVERY bit of suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Answer: You have 1.5 years left. I would ask the company that asked you to take the new position what the chances are if you do take the job then can you become a CPA for the company after graduation? If it's a better position and the same amount of hours, the stress level may be a bit higher, but the experience of moving from Accounts payable to Financial Planning Assistant may be a good choice. First it will demonstrate that you excelled at your first job to be noticed and offered the job as the Assistant. Then, it does show that you have a solid background in Accounts and Financial Planning. Right now you're building a resume and learning how to conduct yourself in the adult world. If the pay is better and the hours are the same, I'd take the new job and learn from it. If you don't like it, you can always look for another Accounts Payable position and return to that field. Furthermore, ask the new company if they will allow you some time for shorter hours during slow seasons so you can concentrate on your studies. If they realize you are balancing school along with their work and showing great promise, you'll probably make a good impression. Negiotiate some terms, know what you can do and cannot do based on the hours you may need for the advanced accounting courses--give your two weeks at your old job if you choose to take it (Leave in good standing as you may need them as a reference) and move forward. It sounds like a fantastic chance, just know what you want and be clear. If the job meshes with your goals, then go for it.

Question: How would you encourage women to become more involved in their financial planning? Most Canadian women are disinterested and unprepared when it comes to planning their financial futures, according to a recent survey by TD Waterhouse. If that’s true, how would you suggest encouraging women to become more ‘invested’ in their personal finances? Read more: "Many Canadian women avoid financial planning: study" http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/07112…

Answer: I am an economist, a former financial planner, and one of Marketocracy.com's Master's 100. http://www.marketocracy.com I am strongly interested in behavioral finance and this question has bothered me for some time. In my personal experience there are four gaps. First, and this applies equally to men and women, it is boring to most people. If it were exciting, everyone would know how to do it. So there is a large issue with the form of financial education. It is one of the areas I have worked on, eliminating the yawn. However, and this comes from studies on engineering education rather than finance, it appears that women learn topics similar to finance differently than men and that to some extent the way it is taught triggers self selection bias out of the field of study. I believe much of the skills needed are taught by men for men, in a way that is cognitively valuable primarily to men. There is no intended bias at all, but I am pretty sure it exists. In my experience, many life skills natural to "women's roles" should make them superior investors to men, but unless you are a truly good investor with a decent idea of the behavioral elements behind good investing, you won't notice them. I wish I had many of my wife's skills, my portfolio performance would probably improve. The second issue is that women seem to embrace variance less than men. I have read research on commercial loan outcomes between men and women and there is less variance among women borrowers, in outcomes, than men. This would imply that women prefer lower natural variation. This may be a gender bias, but it could also be a consumption bias instead. The consumption literature implies that people are "risk loving" in transaction size. That is the larger the transaction, the more risk they are willing to take. It is counter-intuitive and does have a rational explanation, but true. If female income is less than male income, then other things constant, should engage in smaller transactions. It is simple to engage in low variability transactions, go to a bank and open an account. It requires little emotional, personal or educational involvement and satisfies an underlying emotional need, or utility as us very boring economists would say. The trick around this is rather simple, education which changes how they feel about a future outcome over what they feel about the present state. I have long found that people will not change their behavior from cognitive education. You have to feel the change to do the change. Everyone prefers to maintain their own misconceptions of the world, than change them. Watch "A Private Universe," by the Annenberg Foundation and you will see what I mean. Third, to be "invested" in your personal finances it must appeal to you. If it does not already appeal to you as a topic, then the things around the topic need to change. The regulatory structure of financial institutions is very cold and impersonal, providing clarity and little in terms of feelings. Banks, for example, are the only sales driven organization in the world that beg their customers to go away (use ATMs, online banking, debit cards, automatic payroll deposit). There are even banks in the United States that bill their customers to walk in the door. Pick up a Wall Street Journal and pick up Oprah's magazine, they have about the same circulation, they do not have the same gender distribution of readers. We do not have natural social structures, magazines or institutions that approach the world interpersonally in the field of finance. Investment clubs, unfortunately, are poor substitutes for professionally organized equivalents and the statutory structure limits what can exist. I have been working on curiculum to do just this, but it is still in its infancy in many respects and there hasn't been an objective test to see if it matters either, other than student evaluations at the end of the semester. Finally, really talking about financial planning means talking about potential death, illness, disability, disease and loss. No one likes this, but in many respects women should have an advantage here. Women, more often, are the caregivers in a family and the well being of the family is of deep concern. While this should motivate engaging oneself in this issue, the day to day experience of maintaining a family is exhausting and so passing over this responsibility to a husband or boyfriend permits rest. It takes energy to engage and children love sapping your energy. So, remove the yawn, specify behaviors so they can feel the change, present in a way the audience needs it presented, permit a reordering of topics from how it is normally presented, play to natural strengths, and put it in either a social structure that is natural in groups of women, or in small bites so that it can be consumed between the time when one child takes another's toy and scream for the referee and when the children notice they are hungry.

Question: Can somebody suggest me a good book on Financial Planning & Taxes? I am an insurance agent and mutual fund distributor. I am a science graduate, and hence know least about concepts of commerce. I am looking for a book which can help me offer better financial planning to my clients. The books should explain the concepts of various investment instruments like Mutual Funds, Stocks, Real Estate etc. It will be great if the books contains chapters on Taxes (and its various sections). In a nutshell, a book for dummies on Financial planning and Taxes. Please suggest. Thanks a ton.

Answer: Dear Madam, With regards to Financial Planning & Taxes it is very difficult to refer a book which provides all your financial problem, but if you read Dr. V.K.Sighanias Direct Taxes, it provides all available options of tax plannings. It is very lenghy book, you can read whichever you need. Thanks & Regards: Rudrayya.s.