A Financial Planner or Personal Financial Planner is a practicing professional who helps people to deal with various personal financial issues through proper planning, which includes but is not limited to these major areas: tertiary education planning, retirement planning, investment planning, risk management and insurance planning, tax planning, estate planning and business succession planning (for business owners).

The work engaged in by this professional is commonly known as personal financial planning. In carrying out the planning function, he is guided by the financial planning process to create a detailed strategy tailored to a client's specific situation, for meeting a client's specific goals.

Objectives

People enlist the help of a financial planner because of the complexity of knowing how to perform the following:
• Providing direction and meaning to financial decisions;
• Allowing the person to understand how each financial decision affects the other areas of finance; and
• Allowing the person to adapt more easily to life changes in order to feel more secure.

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Author's Bio: 

This definition is part of a series that covers the topic of Personal Finance. The Official Guide to Personal Finance is Leo J. Quinn. Leo J. Quinn, Jr. has been teaching and motivating people all around the world to get out of debt as quickly as possible. His best-selling book, “How To Own Your Paycheck Again”, has transformed literally thousands of financial lives. He also authors a lively weekly newsletter and is a much sought-after speaker for self-help and marketing seminars. One of Leo's most important goals is to help people improve their overall attitude about money or their "Moneytude" as he calls it.