Design, Build, and Protect


by Jeff C. Johnson

Hand holding pen over notebook with plants in background.

Having been a financial professional for nearly 40 years, new acquaintances often casually ask me, “What are you recommending these days?”

This is an innocent question in conversation, and I usually offer some polite reply. But the truth is that any professional recommendation should be based on what that person needs and wants, not what I think about what’s hot. Successful advisory work today requires asking a lot of questions; asking is advising, telling is selling.

(If you have a professional financial adviser, does he ask a lot of questions and listen? Or does he do a lot of telling?)

Investment and financial successes start with the end in mind (if you are a reader, think Stephen Covey). Do you know what’s really important and why it’s important to you? Where do you want to be in the years ahead?

Based on what’s really important in your life, you and a professional adviser (or you alone if you have been successful at doing it yourself) can design and create a written plan. It might be life goals, it might be ways you can impact others, it might be purely financial and a need to feel certain about money.

Once you have designed your plan, you can then move on to building the financial assets that can grow, generate income, and create the wealth you need to meet these goals.

As your wealth increases, you will want to add protections—changes in asset mix, insurance, and financial safeguards—to protect this wealth. But it should all be based on whatever supports your desire for the future.

If you are a client with my firm, Buckingham Strategic Wealth, your wealth adviser has been trained to approach the client relationship in this manner, so speak with your advisory team if you do not have a clear picture of your future.

If you are not being advised by Buckingham, reading my book The Eight Points of Financial Confidence is a good first step toward identifying your goals and creating a financial path that leads to the calm or confidence that many seek.

In my next post, I will highlight the Eight Points of Financial Confidence and provide a free goal-setting checklist you can download.

The opinions expressed by featured authors are their own and may not accurately reflect those of Buckingham Strategic Wealth. This article is for general information only and is not intended to serve as specific financial, accounting, or tax advice. IRN-20-953