When I first moved into my home with my wife and new baby I remember talking to my Dad about financial matters and he told me that it would be a good idea to consult a financial planner. At the time I was pretty worried about my finances, what with the new baby and home to pay for and I honestly felt as though I could not afford any further outlay. Around two years after this conversation with my Dad, I spoke with a family friend of ours Michael Briese, who is a financial advisor. After this conversation with Mr Briese, I quickly realized that I should have consulted an advisor far sooner as he encouraged me to consult one and they had a profound impact on our family’s finances, if you are wondering what a financial advisor can do for your family then here is what ours did for us.
Cut The Spending
The first thing which our financial did for us was to find us better mortgage and more favorable energy deals. In one fell swoop our advisor managed to save us over $200 per month and we ended up paying far less interest on our mortgage. I couldn’t believe the change that our advisor made for us so quickly and any fee which we had to pay for the advisor was paid for in no time at all.
Planning
With our new monthly savings we were able to start planning for the future which gave me a great deal of confidence as previously I had nothing saved for my daughter’s college tuition and nothing set aside for my retirement. Our financial advisor managed to find some great accounts where we could put money to one side which would make steady interest over the years. Within just one month of having a financial advisor I had saved money on the monthly bills and began putting money to one side for the future.
Monthly Budget
I was worried at first that a financial advisor would come in and see our family spending and decide that we were over spending and perhaps judge us for our spends. Thankfully this was not the case at all and in actual fact our advisor was on hand not to question our spends, but to help us try to spend less by being smarter. The financial advisor that we had was able to help us to create a monthly budget which we still stick to now, two years later.
Education
I can honesty say that aside from the money which our financial advisor saved us and the plans which she helped us to put in place for the future, the best thing that I got from the advisor was education. Having financial advisor made me think far more deeply about finance and how responsible, or irresponsible I was being with my money. This additional way of thinking has put me and my family in a far better financial situation.