Money management site LearnVest?our favorite service for getting a personalized financial plan?recently updated its offerings to include new tools for getting better control of your budget, financial priorities, and retirement needs. The free financial checkup shows whether you're on track for those three critical areas, after which you can buy relatively inexpensive, actionable plans created by LearnVest's Certified Financial Planners (CFPs).
As we've said before, financial planning services can be incredibly useful, but with average costs of $200-$300 per hour and 10 to 15 hours to get a plan from a financial advisor, the thousands of dollars cost is beyond the reach of most of us. That's why we like LearnVest, and its new services make it even better. The free financial health checkup measures whether your budget is sound, if you're on track for emergency savings and debt repayment, and if you're on track to reach your retirement target. Along with that one-page analysis, you can schedule a call with a CFP to discuss the evaluation and help you decide your next steps.
When it comes to the actual plans, there are three financial plans you can purchase. The Budget Starter ($89) helps you create a healthy budget by giving you a realistic picture of your monthly spending and how it should be allocated against your essential expenses, discretionary expenses, and financial goals. It also offers a customized list of tasks you should do to keep on track and comes with a phone consultation and three months of unlimited email support from the financial planner.
For more in-depth advice, though (especially if you've already developed a sound budget), you may be better off going with the 5-Year Planner ($349). This gives you not only the budgeting and financial prioritization advice, but a comprehensive 5-year financial plan with a monthly calendar for how much to allocate for each goal and progress estimates. It also comes with quarterly phone consultations and unlimited email support for a year.
The Portfolio Builder ($599) includes the above and adds some investing advice. It provides a recommended portfolio allocation based on your goal's time horizon and your risk tolerance. LearnVest does not, however, offer specific investments advice (the company says its goal is to make clients feel comfortable understanding their own portfolios). For that reason, and because you can get free asset allocation and investment tools elsewhere, I hesitate to recommend this plan unless you're a beginner investor who has a lot of questions about investing basics.
Overall, I've found the calendar and personalized 5-year financial plan (a full 53 pages including the investment advice) to be really helpful, with actionable, concrete recommendations for how to keep on track with all my goals. My CFP and the plan itself answered questions I had, such as how much life insurance I need and when to start college savings.
Although financial planning services may not be for everyone, if you could use a financial overhaul and professional advice throughout the year, LearnVest is a relatively affordable investment. (Note that you'll need to use LearnVest's Mint-like money management tools to be able to work with the financial planner.)
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