WHAT IS FINANCIAL PLANNING*?

Financial Planning is not a product ---it is a process.  You may use specific products such as mutual funds, insurance or other creative solutions such as wills and trusts, (but only as means to an end) to accomplish the goals you have established.  Financial planning will provide direction and discipline.  Without direction and discipline, people typically make impulsive random decisions; they buy this insurance investment, invest in that asset, and adopt the latest tax strategy.  Not only do the pieces not fit together, they may actually conflict with each other and compound the problem.