If I Own a Small Business, Do I Need Financial Planning Assistance?

The short answer is, “Yes! You do.”

The long answer delves into why financial planning is an important aspect of running and growing your small business. No matter how financially adept you are when it comes to taking care of your business, having a financial planning professional involved definitely helps you make more informed decisions. Here’s why every small business owner should get financial planning assistance no matter what stage your company is at or the industry.

1. You get an unbiased and external perspective of your company’s finances.

Familiarity breeds contempt, as that old saying goes. Or rather, familiarity blindness causes poor decision-making that stunts business growth. When you work with a financial planner for your small business, you get an unbiased look at your company’s historic performance as well as the present and forecasting for the future. By having this external peek at your finances, the financial planner can point out areas you have may have overlooked as to why your expenses seem so high or your income is lagging. Getting that outside view alone is often worth hiring a financial planner.

2. Financial planners help you plan for the future.

You can’t quantify what you don’t know but financial planners certainly do their best. Many small business owners fail to do forecasts because they just don’t know how to do them, or simply don’t want to think about the future if performance has been poor and contemplating the future doesn’t sound very promising. In contrast, other small business owners tend to create forecasts that happen to be way off because they’re primarily based on current performance without accounting for trends, general fluctuations, and major decisions. A financial planner can help you with forecasting based on your company’s unique circumstances and planning for the foreseeable future based on both historical finances and what you expect to see in the future.

3. Personal finances play a role in small business owners’ decision-making, and financial planners are the exact resource you need to factor your personal life into those decisions.

When you work with a CFP (Certified Financial Planner), you can have peace of mind that they went through rigorous training and licensing in all manners of personal finance. This includes small business ownership, saving for your children’s higher education, retirement planning, the financial impacts of marriage and divorce, and so much more. Any one of the above savings goals or life events can drastically change the trajectory of your business and business spending. By working with a financial planner, you can factor both your business and personal decisions together when you’re going over your finances. Whether you’re about to go through a divorce right now or would like to put aside a significant nest egg for the future, financial planners can definitely help you make the right small business decisions that will help you attain these goals or mitigate the financial rough spots.

Financial Planning and More in Virginia

Financial planning is a valuable and often overlooked aspect of running a small business. Many business owners only look at current performance, don’t forecast at all or do it incorrectly, and tend not to think about how getting an outside financial planner can provide fresh perspective and even help them get past obstacles. When you work with Rue & Associates, our experienced financial professionals are there for every step of running your small business all the way from company formation to planning for both the expected and unknown bumps in the road. Contact us today to speak to one of our friendly and professional small business experts.