Good Financial Reads: What do Financial Planners do?

Following along with the blogs of financial advisors is a great way to access valuable, educational information about finance — and it doesn’t cost you a thing! Our financial planners love to share their knowledge and help everyone regardless of age or assets.
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Catch up on some of the latest posts with this week's roundup:

What is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (and Why Do I Care)?

FAIRFAX, VA circa 1997 - 20 years ago, I was just graduating from George Mason University with a degree in accounting, ready to one day to take the CPA exam. 

I was full of ghost stories about how difficult the CFP® exam was.  I heard it was "full of math," divided into 10 sections and even for an accounting graduate - admittedly, I wasn't the top of my class - entirely too hard to even consider.  What I didn't know was the CFP® exam was in my future.

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So, Meg, What Do You DO, Anyway?

by Meg Bartelt, Flow Financial Planning, LLC

People who are considering working with me sometimes ask, “So, Meg, what do you do, anyway?” Considering how much time I spend doing what I do, and perhaps given how I wasn’t trained as a marketer, I can struggle to boil it down to a few punchy bullet points.  Nevertheless, it’s a very worthwhile question to ask (and have answered), so I’ve been mulling over how to answer it. Fully. And at length. Behold. Why is it such a mystery what planners do?

My communication inadequacies aside, I think the very existence and frequency of this question reflects the fact that the financial planning profession is not well defined. 

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So What Do You Do?

by Brian Thompson, Brian Thompson Financial LLC

This weekend I took a trip down memory lane — actually two lanes!  I attended my 20th year high school reunion and revisited my college for an alumni cross-country race. Both reunions reminded me just how much has happened the last 20 years and how old I’m getting. (Note to self: running a 5k is nowhere near as easy as it used to be.)

I loved catching up with people that knew the younger version of me. It was also a bit surreal to try to condense 20 years of experience into a hundred, three- to five- minute conversations. The question I had to answer the most was, “so what do you do?”

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What Should You Know Before Getting A Professional To Help You Manage Your Personal Finances?

by Jiyao Xu, X and Y Advisors, Inc.

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