Why is financial planning a secret?

This is the first of three Insights in which we’ll reveal the biggest secret in personal finance – how to design a great financial plan.

Later in this series, we’ll outline the (widely agreed) financial planning process in seven (A.W.E.S.O.M.E.) steps that you can use regardless of your age, income, wealth or wherever you live in the world.

So, feel free to share this series of Insights with your family and friends – it’s designed to help everyone.

What’s coming up?

In this first Insight, we’ll explore why financial planning is so secret – and the personal financial crises that arise because of what people do instead.

In the second Insight, we’ll explain what financial planning really means, why it’s the best way to manage our money  – and cover the first of seven steps in the AWESOME financial planning process.

Then in the third insight we’ll complete our outline of this process – so you can start to plan your money on your own or, as we suggest, with help from a professional adviser.

If you’re unsure if it’s worth paying for advice or want to know where to find sound sources of FREE advice – read our Insight here.

Want to skip to the end – and grab the AWESOME process?

Well, you could do that, but you’ll enjoy this series more (and retain more of the ideas) if you first learn why financial planning is valuable.

The truth is that most people avoid talking about money matters – and we listed ten reasons for this here.

However, we know from Psychologists that having no knowledge or skills in a subject can be an enormous barrier to engagement.

And this is good news as it means we avoid driving cars on the road – until we’ve had some lessons!

Of course, we may feel much less motivated to learn to manage our money – than to drive a car.

And we suspect many people avoid learning about money for the same reason we all avoided some subjects at school.

The teacher wasn’t engaging or fun – and we saw no use for the subject.

So, we want to make this learning fun – and we’re keen to start with the WHY questions.

We also believe some schools could do more to answer the question of ‘why learn this’—don’t you?

OK, but is financial planning really a secret?

Yes, it is a secret to most people worldwide – and the evidence is here.

The chart shows global search trends, but the picture is similar for the UK and the USA in isolation.

(The search numbers for ‘Financial Advice’ are also flatlining at the bottom of that chart)

In short, many more people search for financial products than seek advice on the products they need.

And we want to change this picture – by helping more people choose the right boxes and investments for their money – which requires us to decide first what we want to do with our money and when.

That is the gist of financial planning.

It’s about connecting your money to what really matters in your life.  

Why has no one told you this before?

That’s a good question – and there are at least four causes of this financial literacy problem.

For financial advisers, planners and coaches

This educational Insight is one of many we’ve created for you to use under license in your business to help more people make better financial decisions – and see the value of professional advice.

You can brand these licensable insights to your business style and add your own firm’s calls to action.

If you have any questions at all, please email me at hello@paulclaireaux.com