Financial planners can be of some help to you in building your retirement accounts, but they are limited in many factors, and in some cases, can be a hinderance.

Financial planners normally rely on set products and investments, and dependant upon the company, may limit you to products they own. Mutual funds, bonds, Reits, annuities, 401K's, and IRA's are the typical products that they evaluate for your purposes based on the goals you have for your retirement. Sometimes, they will give you special funds predicated towards college savings for your children, different types of insurance to provide for your family in case of early demise, and which of these products is best for your tax situations.

But what they rarely do is give you details and information for what the wealthy have, and do to protect and grow their assets. The rich use tax shelters above and beyond the standard tools these financial planners understand, and to be able to use all the available products, you must learn to diversify the people you work with as well as the products you work with.

Would you expect to go to a bank to learn about insurance or trusts? Would you expext to go to a broker to learn about real estate and buying foreclosures? No, but you before you put a single dime into your retirement, you should spend a good six months looking for each of these different professionals for their specific skill and advice versus relying on a 'general' planner who deals with the standard tools for every person.

Create a trust for all your current and future assets, and get education on how to maximize your taxes for each different finaincial tool you desire to get into. Remember, some products are cyclical, and no matter what their returns are, you still pay your broker and planner... so learn the different options that you can learn to invest in yourself and it will be just as much a savings as if you put your money in an account and let it sit there for the standard 30 years.

Learn more about this author, Kenneth Schortgen Jr.
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