A Chartered Financial Consultant is a certified finance professional who works with you on a one-to-one basis to help you plan the financial steps to reach your financial goals. Our co-founder, Charles Pettit, has his Chartered Financial Consultant® designation from the American College of Financial Services. He uses it to understand the bigger picture of each person’s finances and construct a plan that helps them create the life they love.
Keep reading as we walk you through the details of what a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) is, what they do, how they help, and why you might need one.
What is a ChFC?
When you become a ChFC, you have gone through a program that prepares you to deal with the complete financial planning process, including being a financial consultant. The in-depth training includes understanding risk management, taxation, tax strategies, retirement planning, investment strategies, estate, estate tax strategies, personal finance, and specialized financial strategies such as divorces.
In short, a ChFC is a certified position with a deep understanding of financial strategies that helps people and businesses prepare for and execute complex financial processes that enable the "client" to reach their financial goals.
What do they do?
A ChFC looks at your entire financial picture. Including your current opportunities, past financial life, and your future financial life. They assess your financial goals and then create a plan based on your existing assets and future assets to reach your financial goals.
An example of what a ChFC might do is help you chart out a savings plan that provides sufficient monies to cover your children's college education.
How do they help?
Because of their deep understanding of financial planning and how investment, taxation, and other financial factors work, a ChFC helps you navigate the complex financial maze so that you can reach your financial goals.
They work in the past, present, and future to map out obstacles and opportunities that impact your financial goals. They help you isolate current problems that you must resolve, such as having too much debt. They talk with you about financial tools such as budgeting. They allow you to decide if large financial purchases are worthwhile investments. An example might be purchasing an expensive sports car or maybe the purchase of a home or rental property. They create financial strategies that take into account your future financial goals. Perhaps you want to retire at age 50 rather than age 67. They will develop a plan that helps you reach that goal.
Why do you need one?
There are many reasons why people seek out the help of a ChFC. A young couple looking at raising a family, buying a house, and managing careers might seek out a ChFC to help them understand the insurance requirements should one of them lose their job or become sick. An executive who is going through a divorce might use a ChFC to help create a plan that offsets the divorce's financial cost without disrupting their retirement plans. A parent might use a ChFC to help them legally set up a monetary gift or to help them with estate planning so that taxation is not an issue.
Conclusion
Almost anyone can benefit from working with a ChFC. They help us identify risks and issues with our financial picture, enable us to find smart investment opportunities, and prepare early for significant economic events in the future. Most importantly, a Chartered Financial Consultant helps us take our hard-earned income and ensure that it’s being spent or saved wisely.
Book a complimentary 15-minute call to discuss how we can help you meet your financial goals.