Comprehensive Financial Planning: A Review of Essential Documents

This report details the essential documents required for comprehensive financial planning, including insurance documents (single premium annuities, term life insurance, etc.), banking statements (checking, savings, money market accounts), investment statements (bonds, stocks, mutual funds), tax returns (W-2, pay stubs), wills, trusts, estate planning documents, employer benefits (pension plans, 401(k) statements), and financial statements (balance sheets, income statements). It explains where clients can obtain these documents, such as online portals, customer service, or registrar offices. For each category, the report highlights the purpose of these documents for a financial planner, which includes assessing insurance needs, emergency fund status, net worth, tax liabilities, estate assets, retirement requirements, and overall financial health. The analysis enables financial planners to provide tailored advice on insurance coverage, investment strategies, tax optimization, and retirement planning. Desklib offers a range of similar solved assignments and study resources for students.

The documents a financial planner would need to review in order to prepare a comprehensive
financial plan:
1. Insurance Documents
Documents to be reviewed
Single Premium Annuities
Flexible premium Annuities
Single premium life insurance
Universal Life insurance
Term Life insurance
Medical Insurance
Disability Insurance
Home Owner’s or Renter’s Insurance
Automobile Insurance
Umbrella Liability
Professional Liability
(Grant, K,. 2019).
Where a client would obtain such documents?
These documents can be found online or offline or calling over the phone to
respective service provider or company/agent/financial advisor from
where/whom you got the policy. One can get these documents by calling to
respective company’s customer care number and letting him know your
insurance policy number, in few hours time they will provide you your policy
documents in your provided E-Mail ID or can send you to your postal address
given in your policy documents within 2-3 days time. (DELBRIDGE, E. 2019).
The purpose of each document for financial planner

Financial Planner needed these documents to assess your insurance need, how
much insurance cover do you have, presently, and, does your insurance cover
required any changes, like increasing or decreasing your insurance cover as
per the assessment of financial advisor?
2. Banking Statements
Documents to be reviewed
Checking Account
Saving Account
Credit Union
Money Market Account
Certificates of Deposits
(Grant, K., 2019).
Where a client would obtain such documents
Documents related to bank statements, whether it is saving account, current
account, credit account or any documents, these days can be downloaded
online by accessing your online bank account (if your online banking account
already activated) or even get offline account statement or any other related
documents by visiting your Bank personally. It can be get in few minutes to
few hours time maximum.
The purpose of each document for financial planner
To get to know about your current emergency fund status, financial planner
asks you for these documents. Generally, through this they assess your at least
3-6 months emergency fund status, review it and finally advise accordingly.
So that, in any emergency scenario, one should has minimum balance in his
saving or liquid fund account.

3. Investment Statements
Documents to be reviewed
Bonds
Stocks
Mutual Funds
Unit Investment Trust
Variable Annuities
Variable Life Insurance
Where a client would obtain such documents
These documents can be found online or offline or calling over the phone to
respective service provider or company/agent/financial advisor through
where/whom you invested your money in respective instruments, that is,
mutual fund, Stacks, bond or in any other investment. One can get these
documents by calling to respective company’s customer care number or their
authorise agents and letting him know your insurance policy number, in few
hours time they will provide you your policy documents in your provided E-
Mail ID or can send you to your postal address given in your policy
documents within 2-3 days time.
The purpose of each document for financial planner
Generally, purpose of these documents would be to estimate one’s current net
worth, what is total investment he/she has and what are the shortcomings or
gaps in his/her investment are there. Whether, all investments are tilted
towards debt instruments, like, bank fixed deposits, government bond, etc. or
it has mixed of both debt and equity investment, what are the ratio of debt and
equity investments, as per his age, risk taking capacity, income and liability.

All these things are assessed by looking at nature of his/her present
investments.
4. Tax Returns
Documents to be reviewed
Tax Return for latest year
W-2 and recent pay stub
Estimated Yearly Taxes
Where a client would obtain such documents
Tax returns documents can be found in place of their working, e.i., from one’s
office or from personal income tax authority’s or from corporate tax
authority’s by visiting their office or logging into their respective website and
providing them basic information about your social security number,
permanent account number, etc. and get the documents downloaded, if you are
regular tax payer and know your responsibility towards your nation.
The purpose of document for financial planner
To assess your tax liability, how much disposable income do you have, how
much you can save, how much you can invest, how to save outgoing taxes by
investing in various tax saving instruments to reduces one’s tax liability. To
advise on most friendly tax saving instruments, to minimize tax liability.
5. Wills, Trust and other Estate planning documents
Documents to be reviewed
Summary of Will
Living Will
Durable Powers of Attorney
Health Care Proxies

Living Trusts or other trust documents
Where a client would obtain such documents
Generally these documents are provided at the time of deeds registered by
both the respective parties in the court of registrar. Even if one needs copy of
these documents, these could easily be accessed by deputing your authorised
consultant or visiting your respective local registrar office by paying very
small amount of fee.
The purpose of document for financial planner
To assess your actual net worth and try to estimates your tangible and
intangible assets, also try to asses, whether any of property has any liability
that needs to paid on time. If one has any loan, on any of property, how to
repay them, so that, it could not become big liability in future and effects one’s
financial position. (DELBRIDGE, E. 2019).
6. Employer benefits
Documents to be reviewed
Company Pension Plan Statements
401(k)/403(b) Plan Statements
SEPs/SIMPLE/Keogh Statements
IRA/Roth IRA Statements
Social Security Earnings and Benefit Estimate
Statements
Summary Plan
Description from Employer
Provided Benefits
(What Is a 401(k)? - Personal Finance - WSJ.com, 2019).

Where a client would obtain such documents
One can get these documents from pension fund authority by visiting their
office personally or by accessing your online pension fund account and get its
statement downloaded at any point of day or time.
(Checklist of Documents Needed for Financial Planning, 2019).
The purpose of each document for financial planner
To assess one’s requirements post his retirement, so that he should live as of
his present condition, even after his retirement from his job.Whether, his/her
retirement corpus will be sufficient to meet his/her families’ entire post
retirement demand like health bill, regular expenses of him and his wife and
any other dependent. It help them to assess your post retirement needs and
how much deficit or surplus you have at that point of time and advise you
accordingly. (DELBRIDGE, E. 2019).
7. Financial Statements
Documents to be reviewed
Balance sheet,
Income Statements,
Net worth Statements
Where a client would obtain such documents
Simply, by visiting their official website and download their annual report,
which provides all the financial detail of company and all other details.
The purpose of each document for financial planner
Financial statement required to judge one’s financial health in detail, like how
much debt one has, what is his/her cash flow, what is his liquidly condition all

detail and many more can be found in financial statements. (DELBRIDGE, E.
2019).
Reference
Checklist of Documents Needed for Financial Planning. (2019). Retrieved 24 July 2019, from
http://www.satherfinancial.com/index.php/finplandocs/135-finplanchecklisst
What Is a 401(k)? - Personal Finance - WSJ.com. (2019). Retrieved 24 July 2019, from
https://guides.wsj.com/personal-finance/retirement/what-is-a-401k/
Grant, K. (2019). Which financial planning documents do you need?. Retrieved 24 July 2019, from
https://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/08/which-financial-planning-documents-do-you-need.html
DELBRIDGE, E. (2019). Here Is the Paperwork Needed When Getting a Car Insurance Quote. Retrieved 24
July 2019, from https://www.thebalance.com/paperwork-needed-for-car-insurance-527454