A financial professional is essentially a personal trainer for your financial life. While you may be able to educate yourself on the financial principles you’ll need to manage your own investments, a financial professional has the knowledge and guidance to take your plan to the next level. Financial professionals use their knowledge to create personalized financial plans for their clients that touch on savings, budgeting, insurance, and tax-saving strategies. 

Just a few of the benefits you can realize from working with a financial professional include: 

• Accountability and follow-through. It can be easy to talk yourself into (or out of) making certain financial moves. By partnering with a financial professional, you can help ensure that the actions you take will fit in with your overall financial plan.
• Ongoing tweaking and review. Circumstances can change, and your plans may change with them. A financial professional will help you reevaluate at regular intervals and make any changes that may be necessary.

Most financial professionals offer a wide array of services, which means that you can use your professional for as little (or as much) as you’d like, depending on your needs at the time. Even if you initially seek out a financial professional for a simple retirement plan or for advice on rebalancing your investments, you may later wish to add tax preparation services or college planning to the list.