The Importance of Having a Written Financial Plan

Over the past few weeks, I've shared my thoughts on the issues dominating the headlines, from inflation and interest rates to trade and geopolitics. Each of these can have an impact on markets, and they are all worth paying attention to.

But this week, I wanted to step back from the headlines and focus on something that is arguably even more important: having a written financial plan.

I often compare it to going to the grocery store.

My wife might send me to the store with three or four things to pick up. I leave the house confident that I'll remember everything. Twenty minutes later, I'm standing in the aisle trying to remember whether it was three things or four. More often than I'd like to admit, I end up calling her.

If I can't reliably remember a short grocery list, why would I expect anyone to keep something as important as their financial future in their head?

A financial plan should be more than a collection of numbers or a retirement projection. It should provide a framework for making important decisions over the years ahead.

That includes understanding how much you can comfortably spend, when to draw cash and from which accounts, when to begin government benefits, how to structure retirement income, how taxes may affect your decisions, whether your estate plan reflects your wishes and how much you can reasonably expect to pass on to the next generation.

It should also show how your investment portfolio fits into the bigger picture.

This becomes particularly important when markets are noisy. Interest rates can change, economic data can surprise, and a new headline can quickly shift investor sentiment. Without a broader plan, it is easy to let short-term developments influence long-term decisions.

A written plan provides perspective.

Instead of asking what the latest headline means for your portfolio, we can ask a more important question: has anything actually changed about your long-term objectives?

Recent research reinforces the value of having that framework. Fidelity's 2026 Retirement Report found that 86% of pre-retirees with a written financial plan and an advisor feel more financially prepared for retirement, compared with 41% of those without either.

This is one of the reasons wealth planning is an important part of the work we do with families. Our wealth planning process brings together the different pieces of a family's financial life, from cash flow and retirement income to tax, estate planning and investment strategy, so that decisions are made in the context of the bigger picture.

The purpose of a financial plan is not to predict the future, but rather to prepare for a range of possible futures and provide a framework for making good decisions when circumstances change.

Markets will rise and fall. Interest rates will move. Economies will expand and contract. Headlines will continue to compete for our attention.

A financial plan should transcend all of that.

It should keep the focus on what matters most: where you are today, where you want to go and the decisions that can help you get there.

And unlike my grocery list, it should be written down.

In the event you have any questions or comments about your situation, please don't hesitate to touch base.

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