Wednesday, November 11, 2009

You Actually Need A Financial Consultant

After the world economic recession, it is now clear that majority of the people would really do well with the services of a financial consultant, either individually (personal consultant) or as a corporate business.

A financial consultant, also known as a financial advisor, offers advice about money management. They offer their services to individuals and businesses. Most people come to financial consultants looking for guidance on how to reach their long term financial goals, which may include a debt management plan, investment advice and/or developing a savings plan. A business will sometimes hire a financial consultant to get advice on managing money programs for its employees.

A financial consultant can be recognized as a professional in the area of financial management. A financial consultant would be involved with the process of providing advice on investment decisions, financing decisions and financial planning for both individuals and business entities. The objective of any financial consultant should be to use his/her knowledge and help the client to maximize their net worth through proper asset allocation. Duties and the skills of a financial consultant can be broadly described as follows.

Any business would depend on the success of its investments as well as the financial management within the organization. Therefore it would be the duty of the financial consultant the use his/her knowledge and advise on how the available funds should be invested, in which projects the available funds should be invested, sources of low cost finance, balancing between long term and short term finance and then to develop strategies on how to utilize these resources in-order to achieve predetermined objectives, which would maximize the net worth of any given business. This process would require the financial consultant to have typical skills such as, budgeting, forecasting, cash flow management, working capital management, investment appraisal, taxation, resource allocation, etc. Apart from this, private individuals may also require advice from financial consultants. This mainly includes advice on retirement planning and decisions upon long term and short-term investments. Then it’s the responsibility of the financial consultant to identify the most appropriate investment options for that particular individual client, which would maximize his/her net wealth.