by Annie H. Liko

Created on: January 16, 2009   Last Updated: June 18, 2009

Financial planning is a term use professionally by financial analysts and consultants. For ordinary layman, the term may seem intimidating but basically the purpose of the process is still the same; which aim at retaining or generating greater returns on whatever assets or investments that we have and ensuring there will be funds available during emergency times.

Our society is divided into three categories - the upper class, the middle class and the lower class but whichever class we belong to, our daily life will be tremendously affected should unforeseen circumstances strike us out of nowhere. How will we embrace ourselves and our family when we are face with any of the following situations?

Lost of job

We dedicate our lives to our career, trying to keep ourselves up with the current trend of living, paying little attention to emergency funds, as most of the income is being flushed down to servicing debts. But when the economic situation gets out of hand and even big corporations had to call it a day or decide that job cut is the best solution to survive; we are among those who get the cut. Did it ever cross our mind all those years about this impending problem? Some of us might have taken our situation for granted; that we will work until our retirement age but sadly that is not the case anymore nowadays; thousands of people, young and old are being laid off work daily, all over the world.

Health Problem

We may have been young and healthy and may not have been conscious of our health until the day, out of the blue, our body just gives way. The medical report confirms that we are having some health issue. With the new circumstances arising, we are not able to perform our duties as efficiently as during the healthier time. To make matter worst, we have to skip work often due to medical treatments, prompting our employer to replace us with someone more competent. Where will the money for the medical treatment and daily expenses come from? Will our life savings be enough to sustain while we hope to pull through the situation and start all over again?

Lost of Life

All the while, we gush over our beautiful family and have great plans for the children but plans that are never documented on papers. What will happen to them today should yesterday we kicked the bucket? Did our plan include the replacement of income for them to ensure that they will not suffer just because we are no longer there to take care of them? Or do we leave them in the doldrums because we, the breadwinners, had failed to materialize our plan for the children's future?

In all cases, with proper financial planning, the effect of life shortcomings can be minimized to ensure that we will still be able to sustain our current lifestyle of living, albeit lesser luxury. Therefore, whichever class of society we belong to, basic financial planning is still the most effective solution to cushion us and our loved ones against hardship in times of trouble.

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