What is the process of financial planning? An individual investor should begin the financial planning process by learning the principle of investing. Education is the first step. First you want to start...
First you want to start with the basics. One of the things I always tell people is to really focus on the education process. People are sometimes a little bit intimidated or they just don't have the time because they are building their careers, but there are some really great resources out there. There are various books like "Investing for Dummies." That's a great place to start. Charles Schwab has a great new guide for financial independence that's written in a very easy style for people to understand. There are a lot of great investment education web sites from nonprofit sources like the American Association of Individual Investors at www.aaii.com. They have a fee for some of the reports, but it is really nominal and it contains the great body and knowledge for beginners. At the Charles Schwab website, you can find the ten principles of investing. It is a good core guideline. If people really understand this education process as a first step, they may even have a financial basics course at a local college. That could really be a worthwhile investment. So the goal, first of all, is to say, "Let me gather education at my own speed to realize that this is not intimidating and I can get started."
They don't teach financial planning in school and I don't understand that. Sooner or later they'll need it. There is no real form of financial planning or financial money management being taught in the school system, not even grade school. I think that is a mistake. You want your child to start learning about money as early as they can.
