1. Income Planning — Creating and implementing a plan to increase the gross income of the practice and the household to accomplish the clients’ goals and purposes. This must be done first since financial planning cannot be done if no money is made in the first place.

2. Policies and Procedures — Creating and Implementing policies and procedures for the management of financial matters in the household to ensure that the household net worth increases. This includes a written and implemented financial plan since financial planning is the allocation of money to expand the business or household after the money has been made.

3. Debt and Credit Management — One must get control over one’s debt, with the purpose of getting out of debt as a priority (except for real estate, if appropriate). Keeping one’s credit in excellent shape is a priority if one is to build and maintain wealth.

4. Tax Planning — The economic loss to a household over a person’s lifetime to income, estate and gift taxes can be staggering. It is imperative that every opportunity to save taxes is utilized in order to retain any level of affluence created by your hard work

5. Estate Planning — The government has a plan on how to distribute your assets and tax those assets upon your death. You may have other plans, but if you don’t implement proper estate planning documents to instruct the survivors in the disposition and management of your assets in the event of your death or incapacity, much of your life’s work will be lost.

6. Asset Protection — There is no reason to work hard to accumulate an asset only to have it lost in a lawsuit, adverse markets, unnecessary taxes, etc., when using proper tools of asset protection can insulate your assets from loss. Fully utilizing the tools of asset protection including business and trust structure, existing laws, and appropriate insurances can save a lot of heartache.

7. Investments — Only after knowing the purpose for which you are investing do you determine how to invest the funds. Investing your reserves in a manner that creates an acceptable rate of return while taking an appropriate amount of risk is the cardinal rule. Investing is also done in a socially responsible manner that forwards a higher degree of survival for the society.

If you study each of these 7 keys, you will see that if any one of them is not implemented to a good result, then any adverse event can wipe out even the best laid plans. So, the proper implementation of a financial plan gets results in all of these areas. Without it, your financial goals will remain out of reach.