Figuring out which investments can best help you deliver your comfortable retirement requires an understanding of:

• What your investment options are.
• How different types of investments tend to perform over long periods of time.
• Your financial goals, so you can pick an investment mix suited to your specific retirement investment objectives and risk tolerance.

Your primary investment choices can be broken into four general asset categories: shares, property, fixed interest/bonds and cash.

Though each may play a role in your long-term strategy, investing directly in shares, property, fixed interest and cash is not always easy for the individual investor.

Creating the ideal investment mix involves identifying your personal objectives and risk tolerance and diversifying your investments accordingly. That is, choosing what's appropriate for you and acquiring the appropriate investments.

Your Standard Financial Planner adviser will determine your profile through a confidential client data collection form and advise you of your best options to achieve your goals.

It is every parent's dream to see their children pursuing tertiary education. This will ensure they have a head start in preparing themselves for their future. Your children's education goals must be planned in advance as it can require a lot of funds.

Your Standard Financial Planner adviser will determine what strategies are required and advise you of the best options available to achieve your child's education planning goals.

It's only natural we prefer not to think about death and as a result many put off planning for this situation.

However, it is vital to plan how you want your assets to be divided on your death to ensure they are distributed efficiently and according to your wishes.

Proper estate planning can reduce worry for your spouse and/or beneficiaries.

Planning can also ensure your assets are distributed in a tax effective way and can minimise the effect of capital gains tax. As part of the process you should also check your superannuation funds and life insurance policies to see who you have nominated as your beneficiary and seek to make changes if necessary and possible.

Financial planning is the process of meeting your life goals through the proper management of your finances. This could include getting out of debts, providing education for your children, living a comfortable retirement, achieving financial freedom, giving to charities, purchasing a home or simply accumulating some cash for rainy day.

The process often involves cash flow management, risk planning, investment planning, tax planning as well as estate planning. A detailed financial needs analysis will assist the financial adviser to discover the meaning of the problems (goals) and explore potential solutions to achieve these goals.

Financial planning often involves a six step process

1. Establishing the goals and objectives
2. Gathering the information required
3. Analysing the information
4. Developing a plan of action
5. Implementing the plan
6. Reviewing and monitoring the plan regularly

Financial planning is a team approach process requiring advisers or professionals of various disciplines to optimize the potential solutions. At SFP, we believe a team approach coupled with the client will greatly enhance quality and satisfactoriness of the plan.

The fees for the financial plan will vary considerably depending on the complexities and detail. It may range from as low as RM 500. In order to assist our client arrive at an acceptable fees, we propose an initial no-obligation meeting to establish the detail and complexity before we propose a fee for the plan subjected to the client acceptance in writing.

Cash flow planning

Cash flow is generated either actively through employment or business, or passively, through savings and investments. Each period in your life cycle, will determine the appropriate activity. In the early stages of life, cash flow will be actively generated, and later in life and through retirement, passive income will be more prominent. The ultimate aim is to replace your active income with passive income as you reach retirement.

Tax planning

Tax is an unavoidable expense in our lives. Minimizing that expense is a universal quest. Savings mechanisms, savings vehicles, timing of entry and exit for capital gains computation and a multitude of other factors require the full utilization of tax planning to expand the after tax cash flow. An important aspect of tax planning is the utilization of the economic workplace to fund retirement and other life goals.

Facts determine the outcome of most tax appeals. Therefore it is expedient that the taxpayer organises their tax affairs so that the least amount of tax is imposed.

The tax laws of the country keep changing and individuals are always finding it a task to keep up with these changes. A financial adviser will most certainly keep a tax consultant in his team of advisers.

With life insurance, the life you're really insuring is everyone elses! Life insurance that pays out upon death is to all intents and purposes death cover. While you won't be around to enjoy any benefits your family will. This is why it's important to have cover. As the major breadwinner, who would look after the rest of your family when you die? Do you really want someone else to look after your family and what if they need to go on welfare?

While life cover will look after your family when you die, what happens if you can't work because of illness or an accident? What will happen if an accident means you can never work again and you've got school fees to pay, food to buy and a mortgage hanging over your head?

This is when you need income protection insurance, otherwise known as disability insurance. It's estimated that you will earn about like RM$1 million over your working life, so it would be fair to say that your income needs protecting a lot more than your home and your car?

If you're diagnosed with a critical illness or crisis, critical illness insurance can relieve your financial difficulties. Unlike income protection insurance, which is dependent on your inability to work, critical illness cover is paid out on the diagnosis of a defined critical illness regardless of your working status.

Instead of receiving a monthly income stream, you are paid a lump sum that you can spend on whatever you like (medical bills, your mortgage, an overseas trip, even a new car). The insurance company makes no demands on how you spend the money