What is Financial Planning?

Financial Planning is the process of meeting your life goals through proper management of finances. Many people confuse Financial Planning with Investment Planning. Investment Planning is one of the 6 disciplines of Financial Planning.

Financial Planning process involves gathering relevant financial information, setting life goals, examining your current financial status and coming up with a strategy or plan for how you can meet your goals given your current situation and future plans.

Who can benefit most from your services and how?

Any individual or family who has financial goals to meet can benefit from our services. Goals can be paying for your children’s education, buying a car, down payment for a house, building a corpus for retirement, protecting your wealth by effective uses of insurance etc.

A good financial planner should save and earn you far more money than what you pay the planner in fees or commissions. This “investment” might be accomplished by improving cash flow through better budgeting, reducing your tax liabilities, boosting investment returns, or even preventing a costly financial catastrophe through the application of insurance or other defensive measures. This is to say nothing of the intangible benefits such as peace of mind, time saved and a better focus on one’s financial life.

How are your services different from the ones provided by my Chartered Accountant, Insurance Agent, and Investment Advisor etc?

Accountants provide you with advice on tax matters and prepare and submit your tax returns. Insurance Advisors advise you on your life and general insurance requirements .Investment advisors advise on investment related matters. A Financial Planner takes a holistic view of the clients situation and advises him on areas such Insurance , Investments , Cash flow and Debt Management, Retirement Planning, Taxation Planning and Estate Planning.

Does MFA provide legal or accounting advice?

The financial planning process by definition encompasses many legal and accounting issues. We will provide general estate planning and income tax planning advice and recommendations. However, we are not attorneys or CAs and therefore can not draft any documents or prepare any tax returns. We are happy to refer you to several qualified attorneys and CAs to meet your needs if you do not already have existing relationships.

I have already accumulated substantial assets and think I am doing quite well. But as I progress and build for the future, things seem to be getting more complicated. I want to be sure I am on track, but I don't always have the time or inclination to manage the myriad details by myself. Can you help me?

Yes. People who need more sophisticated financial planning or advice will find MFA's services appealing and beneficial. If you are looking to simplify your financial affairs, obtain a professional review or second opinion, review your progress, or manage your portfolio(s) towards your goals, we can help.

Tell me about your investment philosophy?

As a financial planner and investment consultant, we believe in the following fundamental principals with regard to designing an investment portfolio and making specific recommendations:

• Purpose : The purpose of a client's investment portfolio is to fund current and/or future financial objectives. In short, to achieve a goal or goals.
• Design : The design of the portfolio must take into account the client's financial objectives, tolerance for risk, time horizon, income needs, liquidity needs, and special considerations such as income and estate taxes.
• Future : No one can predict the future. It is difference of opinion that makes a market. Investment and economic experts provided with the same information often come to different conclusions. We do not suggest that we can, or that any of the money or mutual fund managers that we recommend, will make the correct decision every time. We do believe, however, that studying the historic trends and relationships of investment classes and the philosophies and approaches of successful investment managers can provide valuable insight.
• Allocation : The appropriate allocation of investment assets for your goals and risk tolerance is the most important component in developing an investment portfolio. We believe that having a diversified, well-balanced portfolio, following long-term buy-and-hold strategies, and having patience will increase the likelihood that you will achieve your long-term financial objectives.

How do you select investments for a client?

Before we recommend any investment, we consider the current economic conditions, the outlook for that asset class or type of security and how this investment fits the goal of your portfolio given your objectives, tolerance for risk, time horizon, income needs, liquidity needs, and tax considerations. For mutual fund investments, we focus primarily on the objectives of the fund , fees, experience and track record of the fund managers. With fixed income investments, we concentrate on the best yield, lowest fees, and track record for a given quality of security.We strive to obtain the most appropriate investment vehicles to meet your objectives, while being very conscience of risk exposure.

What types of securities do you provide advice for?

We provide advice for all types of securities, such as Bonds, Post Office Schemes, Real Estate, Stocks, Mutual Funds, ULIPs, Private Equity, Art, Gold and Venture Capital investments etc. MFA also provides advice on budgeting and cash flow issues, Life, Medical, Disability, Motor, Professional Liability and Overseas Travel Insurance, etc. If it has to do with money and finances, we can provide counselling, guidance and/or resources for you.

MFA clients can call on us with any and all of their financial concerns. If someone with different skills could better meet your particular concern, we will candidly say so and can help you find a professional with the necessary expertise.

Clients are particularly encouraged to call when they have a major life event, such as a new job, a baby, a marriage or divorce, or if they are planning to buy a new home or start their own business.

Once my financial plan is completed, will our relationship end?

That is entirely up to you. MFA implements your plan or simply provide services on an as needed basis as determined by you. Without implementation, a plan has no value.

Because financial planning is a process, not an event, we offer ongoing services, periodic reviews and day-to-day consultation as requested or needed.