You wouldn’t build a house without a plan. Likewise, you shouldn’t build a financial future without a financial plan. Financial Mappers Free is the perfect place to start.
The results of building a house could be catastrophic without a plan. While you may be able to draw a mud map of your house, an architect will bring your house to life adding all the little extras you may not have thought of using. In addition, you should research the person who is going to build your house and who will oversee the builder to ensure the work is completed correctly.
When it comes to managing your money, the process can be overwhelming. While it is important to have a budget, Financial Mappers will give you the opportunity to understand how actions taken or not taken now will impact on your financial future for years to come.
If you are new to this process, it is important that you have the knowledge to create a good financial plan.
This is where a financial literacy program is so important. Financial Mappers has a financial literacy program built within the software. You can take your time to watch the 30+ short video clips so that you understand the essentials such as inflation, investment returns, and loan costs. From there, you can expand your horizon with Tutorials and Sample Plans. They all come with explanatory videos and PDFs.
Financial Mappers Free
While the full version of Financial Mappers allows you to create an extended financial plan, with over 20 reports and modelling tools to explore ‘What If’ scenarios, Financial Mappers Free is the perfect place to get started. Here you can create a financial plan and project your financial future for the next 5 years. This financial plan with be supported with 5 essential reports.
To start, you will need to list your salary, assets and loans. You can then work out how much you can afford to save from your salary after you have met your loan commitments. Once you have completed that exercise, you can import the data into a financial plan. You can quickly see where you are now and where you are going. You can then optimise your plan.
The first thing to consider are your debts. If you have a lot of personal loans or credit card debt, you could create a debt reduction schedule, starting with paying down the debts with the highest interest rate and debts that do not help you build wealth.
If you believe that your loans are appropriate to your income, you could maybe start an investment plan. By reading the Tutorials, you will have a good understanding of what’s involved.
The tutorials relating to investments are:
- Interest Earning Accounts
- Shares & Managed Funds
- Real Estate
- Retirement Accounts such as Superannuation
Why you should make a Financial Plan
If you need convincing as to why you should spend your time learning how to make a financial plan, lets look at some of the benefits, you may not have considered.
Financial Health and Physical Well-being
Invest Blue has written a wonderful article called The connection between financial health & physical well-being.
They maintain that research has repeatedly shown that ‘health and physical well-being go hand in hand’. They list eight steps to get you started:
- Draw up a budget
- Avoid Auto-pilot mode
- Save
- Avoid Bad Debt
- Reduce debt
- Have investments
- Have a safety net in place
- Ask for professional help (when required)
Having a Great Retirement
Wade John has written an excellent article: Time is Money: Why early retirement planning matters. In his article he discusses:
- When you should start planning
- How much will you need
- The importance of a financial plan
More information from MoneySmart
The government website MoneySmart is an excellent resource for Developing an Investment Plan.
If your priority is to reduce debt, you can find out more about Managing Debt.
You will find that the critical point made in planning for your financial future is to make a Financial Plan. If you have not taken this step, you need to start.
Why not watch this video to motivate you to start today and secure your financial future?
Disclaimer: Financial Mappers does not have an Australian Services License, does not offer financial planning advice, and does not recommend financial products.
