Unfortunately, many people today don’t begin early enough to plan their retirements, nor do they fully grasp the principles of growing retirement income. I attribute this to the fact that most people don’t have access to dependable retirement financial planning. There’s actually plenty of good free financial advice available, but you usually have to pay if you want the information customized to your needs. As a result, some people try to fend for themselves, only to discover too late that they won’t have what they need to retire. That’s why it’s a good idea to use a financial professional to help you plan your retirement. And since it is your hard-earned money, you owe it to yourself to do your homework first so you can ask intelligent questions questions of the financial advisor and understand the answers. Getting the lay of the land, financially speaking, will also save you money if your advisor charges an hourly rate.

Here are some of topics you should know before you pay someone for financial advice:

How life insurance impacts your financial future
Not everyone needs life insurance information because they don’t have anyone depending on them and causing them to need life insurance. But those who do need it should choose wisely. Understanding the difference between cash value, term life and variable universal life (VUL) will allow you to pick the option best for you. And I’ll clue you into one fact right from the start: cash value policies, such as whole life and universal life can usually be counted on to produce a bad return on investment and will probably cause your family to have inadequate coverage. So you should bear that in mind when you talk to a financial consultant.

The difference between load and no-load mutual funds
Some financial advisors work on commission only, so it’s in their best interest to suggest “load” funds (funds with service fees). This is why it’s sometimes better to pay by the hour for financial consulting, so you can ensure the advice is objective. Once you understand the financial difference between no-load and loaded funds, you’ll see why.

Have an idea when you want to retire and how much money you’ll need
Before you meet with a financial planner, it would be prudent to know approximately when you want to retire and how much money you think it will take to maintain your lifestyle. That will help him or her to work with you to create a plan to get you where you need to go.

Once you’ve done the homework above, you’ll want to to do just a little bit more: make some inquiries of your friends and family if they can recommend someone before you choose a financial planner. Once you have those recommendations, see how well that person has done with his own finances. If you don’t see evidence of that they did it for themselves, they won’t be able to do it for you!

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