Meeting with a financial planner is a great way to get your finances in order and plan effectively for the future. How productive your first meeting is depends not only on your financial planner's efforts, but also your own. Here are four ways you can prepare for a meeting with your financial planner to help ensure you get as much out of this experience as possible.

Find out About Your Retirement Options

Make an appointment with your human resources department at work, and ask them for documentation that shows all of your retirement account and savings options. Make a note of what you are currently doing in regard to saving for retirement, too. With this information, your financial advisor will be better able to recommend a new retirement saving strategy for you that maximizes your earnings while reducing the amount of taxes you will pay in the long run.

Check Your Account Balances

Go through your savings and checking account information, and print out all of your statements. This will show your financial advisor not only how much money you have, but what your habits are as far as saving and allocating your money. With this information, they may be able to make better recommendations as far as how much you should be keeping in various accounts -- and the types of accounts you really should be using.

Make a List of Creditors

Many people do not know exactly how much debt they have or to whom they owe that debt. If you sit down and make a list of all of your debts, along with who the debts are owed to, your financial advisor can employ their financial planning services and help you make a customized plan for paying off those debts. It's not always as simple as paying off the lowest-interest-rate debt first. The best plan for you will depend on your income, retirement savings, and so forth.

Set Some Goals

Ask yourself what you are hoping to get out of this meeting with a financial advisor. Are you hoping to come up with a secure retirement planning strategy? Is your goal to get a better handle on your saving? Maybe you want to get out of debt. If you have a solid idea about what your goals are, your advisor will be better able to help you reach them.

With these four planning tasks checked off your list, you will be better prepared for your first advisement meeting. 

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