If you’ve decided you need help with your finances, finding the right advisor for your situation starts with a conversation.  But not where you might think.  It starts with having a conversation with yourself, and your partner if you have one, that engages in some introspection, research, and outlining about what your life is about.

What are you looking for in your relationship with the person, or persons, that you invite into your financial life?  And where are you in your financial lifespan? Are you a good planner and have a budget and are looking for assistance in just managing your assets?  Or are you like so many of us that spend large blocks of our time in our career and recreational endeavors that we find our financial planning either doesn’t exist or is in shambles?  Are you at a point in your life where you’re thinking about retirement, funding college for your kids, and catching up or maximizing your contributions to your IRA or 401(k)?  Or are you worrying about digging out from under a mountain of student debt, buying your first house, or getting started in your first career?

Retirement will look different to Gen X and Gen Y investors than Baby Boomers.  Those of us in the Boomer generation are looking forward to Social Security, potentially the last of defined benefit pension plans, and years of stable employment that hopefully has resulted in a fully funded 401(k).  The next generation of retirees may very well not have the same benefits to look forward to.  Social security is a bankrupt political football.  401(k)s have made the news in the new Trump tax bill with the idea that the current limits on non-taxable contributions will be dropped significantly and people will have to move to Roth investments where the money deposited is taxed going in, but not taxed coming out.

Health advances mean that average life expectancies are increasing and there are many ways this can impact your planning, and the kind of advisor you will be most satisfied with.

Before you sit down with an advisor, and begin the vetting process, it’s important to reflect on what  you want out of your life – as best as you can.  Setting goals is part of the planning process and it’s far better you know what you want, than to have your advisor telling you what you want.

When financial planning is brought up, the first thing many of us jump to is the retirement scenario.  But for a large part of our population it is about much more.  Of course it will be about retirement, in a sense, but it will also be about things like serial careers or pursuing a passion that isn’t classically profitable.   Although the government needs to push the official retirement age back to reduce its liabilities, many of us are talking about getting to the point where we are financially self sufficient and can retire much earlier!  Just look at the number of articles in the press about the stories of individuals or couples that saved half or more of their incomes and no longer have to suffer with a required 9-5 job, effectively retiring in their 40’s or 50’s.

Like most planning, getting the steps in the right order is critical.  And having your own internal conversation with yourself and  your family is the right first step before beginning the search for a financial planner you can trust with your future.

Next: what kind of risk do you prefer?