11.2 My financial plan

In this section:

• 11.2.1 Information needed to plan
• 11.2.2 Case study: How a financial plan looks
• 11.2.3 Case study: Financial steps needed to complete goals
• 11.2.4 Build your financial plan
• 11.2.5 Financial steps to reach goals
• 11.2.6 Summary of key messages

Introduction

Financial planning may seem like a complex task best left to professionals, but most people do simple financial planning all the time. If you're expecting to go to a movie and dinner on the weekend, you know that you have to have some cash available by then. So you save it from the cash in your pockets, you get it from the bank, or you bring your credit card. Financial planning takes the same ideas and works them out in more detail for bigger goals.

This section looks at how to create a comprehensive financial plan. You will explore:

• what information you need to build a financial plan
• what a detailed personal financial plan looks like
• steps to create your own financial plan.

You'll review how to get started on a financial plan and the information you will need. You'll review a sample financial plan for a typical family. Then you'll use a step-by-step template to create a financial plan for yourself. By the time you finish this section, you'll be able to go through the steps you need to take and the financial resources you'll require to accomplish your goals.