A young dentist’s guide to financial planning – Richard Lishman

  Posted by: Dental Design      12th September 2018

When it comes to financial planning the earlier you can start the better, because if left too late it might not be possible to achieve everything that you had set out to do. It can also be more stressful leaving financial arrangements to the last minute, particularly as you never know what’s around the corner.

To get started, the first thing you’ll need to do is establish what your short- and long-term financial goals are. The clearer you are about what you want to achieve, the more likely you are to succeed in meeting your objectives. After that, you can begin formulating a financial strategy. The plan should be relatively flexible to accommodate for any potential changes (your priorities are likely to develop over time, after all), and unforeseen events such as illness and so on.

An experienced Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) is the best person to help you with this, as they will be able to create an adaptable financial plan that’s both tailored to your needs and relevant to evolving market conditions. They can also help you to understand the financial implications of certain events such as becoming a self-employed associate, buying a house, buying or selling a practice and making a will, as well as provide advice on relevant taxations.

There is a variety of investment and savings vehicles open to you; with the help of an IFA, you can assess which ones would benefit you the most, meet your goals and provide the most return with the lowest amount of risk. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages, so it’s worth weighing up your options before making a commitment, and where possible, it is advisable to diversify your assets as it helps to ensure that your portfolio is more protected should one asset suddenly start to underperform.

The other thing you need to think about is retirement planning. It may seem like a long way off, but you can do yourself a lot of favours by starting early. For one thing your pension pot will be considerably bigger by the time you come to retire, but you’ll also avoid having to save larger sums of money over a shorter period of time, which can put a strain on your overall finances. Indeed, it’s a lot less stressful saving 12% of your salary, than it is 20%.

For help with your financial planning, now and into the future, contact the experienced team of IFAs at money4dentists – and remember, the sooner you get started, the better.

For more information please call 0845 345 5060 or 0754DENTIST.

Email info@money4dentists.comor visit www.money4dentists.com