What Financial Planners Do for People

How do you go from this:

To this:

In February our twin daughters turned 5 years old. My wife and I decided that we would buy a play set for this special birthday and I would put it together.

When we got the boxes home and took all the parts out I looked at the laminated "Parts Map" in the top picture. With hundreds of parts I first thought, "Oh my! How am I going to do this!" And, "What have I gotten myself into?" So I taped the sheet to the wall to use as a reference.

Then I looked for the instructions:

After briefly flipping through the booklet I saw that the written steps were well written and they were backed up with detailed close-up illustrations. Immediately, I felt much more comfortable and was confident that I could put this play set together for our daughters.

Moments after looking at the instructions I looked back at the "Parts Map" and it dawned on me that an effective, qualified financial planner is like the instructions to this play set. Everyone has a bunch of "financial parts" such as savings, retirement plans, insurance policies, tax strategies, estate documents, etc. Many people get overwhelmed, don't know if the pieces are appropriate or if the combination is best for their situation. A Certified Financial Planner like myself will organize and simplify your "financial parts" so they are all working to meet your specific needs and goals.

Financial planning metaphors and insights come to me in odd ways at times. I think this is a really good illustration for what qualified financial planners are able to do for people.