Whether you are trying to protect and grow the fortune and you have amassed or trying to build a fortune, it requires attention. You might have recently seen a TV advertisement that shows a pie chart crashing into a family home. The pie chart is supposed to represent the family’s investment plan. The plan crashed due to neglect. It is not luck that assures achieving a goal, it is diligence.

“Diligence is the mother of good luck”
–Benjamin Franklin

In the last issue, October 2014, I wrote about how to protect your financial future. It begins with having a complete picture of your current financial standing, retirement expectations and estate plans. This article discusses the next stage of the wealth building or retirement building process. The next stage is to design a formal investment plan. There are two general options:

1. Do it yourself
2. Have a financial professional design your investment plan

For the do-it-yourself people there are computer programs on the market that are specifically designed to assist people in drafting their own plan. Get online and research “investment planning software.” There are many software programs to choose from. Research the choices and read the reviews.

If you choose option 2, using a financial professional to design your plan, there are many choices in this direction as well. If you already have a financial advisor, many advisors have the financial planning software; they may even provide the service at no cost. Usually, a financial advisor will provide a profes­sional financial investment plan at no cost under the agreement that they will be hired to implement the investment plan. So the plan is free, but there will be a fee or a commission for the investments purchases or sales recommended by the plan. There are also financial planners that will charge hundreds, and some­
times thousands, of dollars for designing an investment plan and the implementation is an additional charge.

Once you have decided if you or a professional is designing your plan, then it’s time to get the plan done. Maintaining and/or building your fortune requires a customized and detailed plan. In my next article I will provide helpful information to enable you to achieve maximum results from your plan.