Financial Planning For The DIYer: Can You Do This Yourself? – Forbes
If you’re a do-it-yourselfer and you’d like to do this, there’s nothing in financial planning that … [+]
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Anyone with more than eleven minutes of experience in financial services—or, likely, any service position—has been asked this question: why do I need you?
The short answer is you don’t. But that doesn’t mean that using a financial advisor is not a good idea.
What can I do myself?
The reality is you can create every aspect of a financial plan yourself. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer and you’d like to do this, there’s nothing in financial planning that can’t be done on your own.
If you have the time, interest, and knowledge (or a talent for precision Googling), you can build a financial plan that will look similar to one drafted by a professional. There are tools and platforms available that make this possible, or even simple, to do on your own.
Have you ever built a deck?
Let’s look at this outside of the financial lens. Say you wanted to build a deck behind your house. There are different courses of action you could follow to get it done.
If you’re handy with a toolbox and have time to spare, you could find tutorials or YouTube videos and build the deck with your own two hands.
Maybe you’re not great with a hammer but you want to be in control of the process. You can determine exactly which types of services you’ll need to build the deck—a lumber supplier, a builder, a painter, a surveyor—and hire each professional and oversee the job is done to your liking.
Or, if you’re busy focusing on other things, you can hire a general contractor and trust that he or she will make sure each step of the project is completed and that the final product is up to your specifications.
Financial planning can be the same way.
Fully DIY
For the person with the time and commitment to build out their financial plan from start to finish, there are programs and online tools that will allow you to do so.
Robo-advisors are also good tools to help you allocate basic investments and start creating your portfolio.
You can file your own taxes, track your own expenses, manage your own risk and work towards your financial goals in your own way.
Being Your Own Contractor
For those who don’t want to be completely alone but …….
