Middle America Denied Access to Financial Planning According to Forbes-Plan Rolled Out

Fred Forbes, President of Financial Factors, said that statistics show that most of middle America cannot afford financial planning by qualified professionals. Forbes announced that Financial Facors, the firm he heads, has announced a plan to deal with the situation and put financial counseling within reach of many who need it.

Middle America Denied Access to Financial Planning

Bradenton, FL: The math shows the problem: 37,500 Certified Financial Planner practitioners in the U.S., 50,000,000 families.

As the need for financial planning grows, dealing with issues ranging from the proper allocation of 401(k) assets to college funding and retirement planning, the middle class is rapidly being left out of the process.

Most CFP practitioners continue to increase the minimum investment account size they are willing to handle with firms that recently required $100,000 now moving to $250,000 and those that had been at that level moving to $500,000 and up.

In addition, the majority of planners require a long-term commitment and a total financial relationship, handling everything from insurance and investments to tax and estate planning for their clients.

According to Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America, Most of the public does not have access to planners because they dont have sufficient assets".

Financial Factors, Inc., with headquarters in Bradenton and representative offices in Orlando and Hollywood, Florida has decided to address the issue by offering financial planning advice on an hourly basis with no on-going contractual requirement.

Fred A. Forbes, CFP, President of Financial Factors said, This type of program should appeal to two groups of people. The first are those can use planning on an intermittent basis to deal with issues such as determining things like how to allocate investment assets in company qualified plans, the type and amount of insurance to carry, buy or lease decisions with regard to housing and autos, or the ins and outs of college funding, evaluating divorce or business succession issues. The second type that this approach would work for is the do-it-yourselfer" who doesnt mind paying for a few hours of advice but wants to do the heavy lifting" of investment analysis and fund selection or insurance company selection themselves. They tend to be fairly knowledgeable but value the assistance of a professional who can see the big picture and keep them on the right track."

Forbes feels that both groups tend to prefer to pay for objective advice on an hourly basis, a method they are used to with doctors, dentists and attorneys, and one that does not tie them to a long-term commitment. Also of importance to many is the desire to operate in an environment that has no sales pressure with regard to financial products or programs. We recently had a couple engage this service with respect to college funding. They did not qualify as a planning client in the overall sense of the word, but the $450 they spent as a one time fee ended up saving them more than $12,000 a year in college funding expenses. This may not be a typical result, and for many people the bottom line will be simply the peace of mind they achieve from going through a process that addresses their specific concerns."

This type of approach to planning is relatively rare, with only a handful of Certified Financial Planner practitioners offering this service nationwide but it is an approach that may effectively expand the power of planning to a greater segment of the population.

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