The 30 Most Important Questions to Plan your Financial Life

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At Planning4Life, we treat each person as a unique individual and we don’t believe in one size fits all kind of solutions. Our consultants co-create the questions with the clients, according to each one’s circumstances and particularities. In general, the questions revolve around 3 main pillars: back-ups, creating wealth and financial autonomy.

Because it’s never too soon to face the questions that set the direction of our lives, here are some of the most relevant questions you need to answer:

Back-Ups

1. What happens if tomorrow your current income disappears?
2. Do you have an emergency fund?
3. How much time can you live off of that fund?
4. What are the odds of you needing or wanting to change careers?
5. How much money per month do you get without working?
6. In what way would your household be affected by sudden unemployment or a disease?
7. How are your assets protected?
8. Who do you talk to before a significant financial decision?
9. If anything happens to you, does your family have access to important information?

Creating Wealth

10. How do you move your money around?
11. How much money do you have left every month, and what do you normally do with that money?
12. Where do you put your savings and why?
13. What’s the average return on your savings?
14. How much would you like to have by the time you retire?
15. What risks are you willing to take with your savings?
16. At your current saving rhythm, will you be able to live the rest of your life like you want to live?
17. What’s the goal of your savings?
18. Until what age do you need to save?
19. How much do taxes affect your life?
20. Have you looked for better tax solutions?

Financial Autonomy

21. What strategy do you use to define and follow your budget?
22. Do you have a personal and a joint family budget?
23. How do you manage the joint family budget?
24. How do you use your credit cards and what percentage do you pay off each month?
25. Do you have any strategy for paying off debt?
26. Do you have any debt that is generating money for you?
27. How much money do you get each month without having to work for it?
28. If money wasn’t an issue, what would you like to do?
29. How do you see yourself in 5 years?
30. If you were diagnosed with a serious disease and you had 5 years to live, what would you like to do with that time?

There's a saying that is particularly relevant to these questions: what we face strengthens us, what we avoid weakens us. As much as these questions will uncover some of our vulnerabilities, they make us face our challenges head on.

Instead of waiting to minimize the damages of failing to consider these questions, they allow us to prepare, plan and build a more peaceful future. We really want to spend less time reacting to life and its curve balls and more time creating the life of our best question: if it was possible what would it be?

Because we believe that sharing information is a vehicle for transformation, we want to hear your opinion:


What was the most transformative question anyone has asked you?

And how do you know if a question is transformative or limiting?

Catarina Lino

@planning4life.pt

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