As I’ve continued to interview the experts for The Financial Health Telesummit, one theme has consistently come up that I realized I haven’t written about yet – the importance of having a strong financial team to support building and strengthening your financial foundation.

One expert even put it like this – why do we expect ourselves to ask for help in all of the other areas of our lives (i.e. car repairs, house repairs, etc.), yet we don’t always think to ask for help (or feel ashamed to do so) when it comes to our money?

I couldn’t agree more.  Having a strong financial team in place is a critical component of becoming financially literate and powerful.  Even someone like me (who was raised in a household where proactive money management was taught and who is a CPA herself) has people on her own financial team – a CPA (who specializes in taxes because I don’t), a financial advisor, insurance professionals, and attorneys, just to name a few.

So, who are the key players to a solid financial team and why do you need them?  Great question!

• CPAs – Certified Public Accountants (or CPAs) are individuals who are trained in understanding the specific rules and regulations in a variety of different areas (i.e. audit, tax, etc.).  In terms of the most commonly used CPAs for individuals and small businesses, CPAs who specialize in understanding taxes are often the most helpful.  CPAs can help you keep more of the money that you make by helping you to legally take advantage of each and every tax deduction for which you’re eligible.  I typically recommend considering working with a CPA in two instances: 1) you simply don’t understand how to effectively fill out your own taxes and would be better served by having someone to help you with them (many people fall into this category) or 2) your particular situation is complicated and you may miss an opportunity to reduce your taxes because you are not a tax expert.

• Insurance professionals – Licensed insurance professionals can help you to manage your risk in a variety of different areas, with different types of insurance including (but not limited to): property, casualty, life, disability, health and long-term care.  Each person’s situation will be different in terms of the amount and type of insurance that they need, and having someone who can help to ask you the right questions and make decisions with you on what serves you best can prove to be very helpful to protect you and your loved ones.

• Estate planning attorneys – Attorneys who specialize in estate planning are often looking to help you with drafting legal documents such as wills and trusts in addition to other specialized legal documents that you may need to protect your assets or your loved ones.  These attorneys may also specialize in certain areas of the law (including family planning or elder care) as they seek to understand your particular situation and help you legally document your wishes and communicate those wishes effectively with your loves ones and with the courts.

• Financial advisors/planners – Financial advisors and planners help you to take a look at the entire picture of your financial health from insurance, to investing, to looking forward to retirement to see what your income sources will be.  These professionals are great at helping you to understand your entire picture and to assess any “gaps” that you may have in your financial plan (short-term or long-term), so that you can patiently work through and address those gaps to be able to sleep well at night.  They also help you to focus on protecting and growing your financial assets.

And now that we’ve addressed who the key players are, another question I’d like to address is this – where do I find someone that I like and how do I know they’re the right person for me to work with?

If you’re not sure who to reach out to for help, I recommend 2 approaches: 1) ask a financial professional that you have an existing relationship with to recommend someone to you, as they often have a close knit group of people they know, like and trust and would be happy to connect you with; or 2) ask people around you (friends, family) who they work with and would recommend.  As you’re considering who to work with, I also recommend interviewing more than one person in each category so that you can find the professional best suited to your situation and who aligns well with your personality.

In terms of how to know whether someone is the best person for you to work with, there are usually 3 key things to assess from my perspective: 1) there’s a sense of ease in your conversations with the professional (i.e. you feel as if you can trust them); 2) it feels as if the professional is talking with you and not at you (if they’re talking too technically or with too much financial jargon and they seem to be annoyed when you ask questions, it’s time to excuse yourself and look for someone else); and 3) they have a service mentality vs. simply seeing you as dollar signs (if you get that icky “pushy” feeling from someone, it’s time to find someone else!).

In the end, there are a lot of fantastic professionals out there waiting to serve you and get you in the best financial shape of your life – you just need to know who to look for and how to find them!

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It’s confession time again.  I am a classic “Type A” and overachiever in recovery.  For the most part, I like rules, I like order, and I like structure and systems.  There, I said it out loud.

But can I confess something else?  In the last few years, I’ve broken a lot of the financial “rules” that the financial experts say I should adhere to.  When you start a business like I’ve done, sometime you have to break the rules to get yourself on the fast path toward a longer-term goal.  So yes, I’m currently carrying debt related to the business. And yes, I’ve taken money out of my retirement account to fund the business (I can hear the experts screaming now “noooooooooo!!!!).

When it comes to financial “rules,” there are lots of financial experts out there telling you what you should do with your money.  Pay yourself first, save 3-6 months of living expenses, don’t carry credit card debt, etc. etc. etc.  And in general, I think they have solid ideas that should be considered when you’re building your financial plan.  I incorporate many of these ideas in the plans that I design for my clients.

But the one big thing I find that these experts are missing is that people want CHOICE in their lives when it comes to how they live it.  People want to live and be happy now, and not wait until they “get to retirement.”

Can I tell you a secret about these financial experts? Sometimes they drive me nuts.  They have a lot of good intentions and are doing their best to teach you what has worked in the past to be financially “safe” and end up with a boatload of money when you retire.  It’s what I like to call the “accumulation method” where you save up a ton of money and for the most part, wait until “someday” to have fun.

Well you know what? Life’s way too damn short.  And from my perspective, life is to be lived NOW and experiences are to be had NOW (not when you retire).  It’s time for us to create our own rules!

Now, before everyone starts to go off the reservation spending all their money and racking up credit card debt to live a life that they can’t afford and saying that I said it was ok to do that, that is NOT what I’m saying.  What I am saying is that it’s in your best interest to invest some time in developing your own financial rules that work for you and your life and that will help you to achieve your goals and choose what is important for you.

Be intentional with your money.  Be intentional with your life.  Sit down and take time to decide which of the traditional financial rules will serve you well and which ones you want to redefine a bit more for yourself so that you can enjoy your life here and now.  It’s important to have a financial framework that allows you to build financial freedom for yourself while also experiencing life joyfully.

Establishing your own financial rules can be a bit tricky if you’ve never tried before, so here are the 3 steps I would recommend if you’re wanting to reconsider your own rules:

1)      Ensure your financial stability – I’ve had clients that get really excited when they hear that I’m not afraid to break some of the more traditional financial rules that most people would suggest.  However, let me be clear – while I am not afraid to bend and mold the rules to meet each client’s need, it is critically important to be working toward a basic level of financial stability before changing the rules in any substantial way.  The reality is that life takes money to live, and money is a tool to support goals.  So first and foremost, develop a financial plan to suit your life that allows you to handle your commitments (i.e. bills, etc.), save some money, and pay down your debt, if applicable.  Having a financial foundation will allow you to absorb future unanticipated bumps in the road.

2)      Consider the rules of the past – Many of us learn things about money from the people around us while we’re growing up (parents, grandparents, neighbors, etc.), and we never stop to really think about whether these rules or beliefs actually work for the lives we are building for ourselves now.  In my household, both of my parents worked as employees and while they taught me many great things about money, I absorbed the belief (or rule, if you will) that financial security came from a paycheck and benefits.  It wasn’t until I realized that this little gem of a belief was rattling around in my head (unconsciously rattling, I might add!) that I could examine it and decide consciously whether it was still true for me as I considered entrepreneurship that would require me to be responsible for my own paycheck and benefits.  So, ask yourself this question as you think about changing your own financial rules – what beliefs or rules were you taught that may no longer serve you where you are in your life now?  Once you gain awareness of what these beliefs and rules are, you can spend time understanding them and begin to choose differently and consciously.

3)      Balance short-term goals with long-term goals – If you listen to many of the financial experts, a significant portion of them are highly focused on saving for retirement as the “mecca” of all times in our lives.  While I agree that long-term saving for retirement is indeed important and that there are smart ways to do that, for me life is also to be enjoyed now and money is to be used to experience the present as well.  As you’re considering new financial rules for your life, think about some of the experiences that you say you’d like to do “someday” and think about whether you should fast track those things to do sooner rather than later.  Should you save for that vacation to Italy 3 years from now instead of when you retire in 20 years?  Perhaps you’d enjoy date night with your husband or wife once a week to keep your marriage strong?  Maybe you love a certain place to vacation and you’d like to buy a small second home for regular time off to rest and relax with friends and family? Each of these choices might make you happier now and result in a better balance between fun and financial responsibility.

As my mentor would say, live life like you mean it and go for your dreams.  I know I live a much happier life now that my paycheck no longer defines my worth and I balance my retirement goals with living in the present, and I’d love for you to have the same for your own life!

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