Financial planning is unique to each family
When it comes to planning for their family’s financial future, each couple must realize their situation is unique and ever changing.
“I tell my clients what works for another family might not work for their family,” said Chad M. Novotney, a financial advisor for Edward Jones Investments. “And what works today might not work tomorrow. There is no cookie-cutter approach for financial planning. At Edward Jones, we personalize a solution to meet our clients’ needs and help them stay on track to achieve those goals.”
Novotney said that families have different financial priorities as they go through the different stages of their lives. For younger families, saving for a house is often first on their financial planning to-do list. As time goes on, parents will probably put more of a focus on saving for their kids’ education and/or building a nest egg for their retirement. Financial advisors such as Novotney help families come up with a game plan to meet their changing needs.
“When you sit down with a financial advisor, the first step is to identify your goal,” said Novotney. “After that, you should establish a time frame for achieving your goal. For instance, you might be working with an 18-year time frame when saving for your children’s financial education. If you’re saving for retirement, you’ll be starting out several decades in advance.”
Investing involves a certain amount of risk and each family should determine their tolerance to risk, added Novotney.
“It’s important to ask yourself how comfortable you are with market volatility,” said Novotney. “Some people take a more aggressive approach to investing. Over the long term, they are comfortable with swings in the market. Others can’t stomach the thought of their money going up and down. So they prefer a more conservative approach to investing. Also, people in their 20s and 30s are less risk averse than someone in the 40s and older.”
Whatever their age, financial goals or risk tolerance, couples should put some money aside for emergencies. Novotney recommends that families maintain enough cash in their saving account to cover at least three to six months of expenses.
“You never know if you’ll have an emergency, such as hospital expenses or a job layoff,” he said. “You should get in the habit of allocating part of each paycheck to your savings account. For example, some couples can put aside 10 percent of their paychecks without much of a problem. It all depends on your unique situation at the time.”
Located at 526 Fallowfield Avenue in Charleroi, Edward Jones Investments offers a full range of financial services, including business retirement plans, retirement savings strategies, retirement income strategies, estate and legacy strategies, insurance and annuities, and college savings.
“We are a large investment firm with more than 14,000 locations and 7 million clients worldwide,” said Novotney. “But at the same time, we take a personalized approach when working with our clients. We get to know each of our clients as persons and build relationships with them. That makes it easier for us to help our clients achieve their financial goals.”
For more information about financial planning for families, call Chad Novotney at 724-565-5427.