Why do I have a financial planner?

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It may surprise people that my husband and I pay a financial planner, given that I spend a lot of time at work on financial, tax, and investment planning. However, hiring a planner has a reward that cannot be quantified: peace of mind.

Here are some of the top reasons why we pay for financial advice.

1) We wanted a second opinion on some important decisions.

I wanted a different perspective on less-familiar topics, like handling employer stocks, and whether we need long-term care insurance. We could have faced both the issues on our own, but professional guidance helped us move forward with more confidence.

2) We found a business model that suits our situation.

We were pleased to find a financial planning firm that could work with us on an hourly basis to address our specific questions rather than for ongoing portfolio management. Paying for financial advice on an ongoing basis, through an asset-under-management fee or other arrangement, may be right for some people. Shop around to find a business model that suits the type and level of service you need. This requires clarity on what you want.

Most holistic financial planners, including us, are uncomfortable answering questions without a complete understanding of your financial situation. My question about long-term care insurance seemed straightforward, but our planner could only answer with confidence if she understood our retirement assets, expected Social Security, and projected spending in retirement. A good quality planner takes the time to review your entire situation before responding. (I’d consider it a red flag if a planner is willing to give targeted advice without extensive review.) This could mean higher fees than you anticipate.

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3) It inspired us to try and stay organized.

A holistic financial planner also requires you to share a lot of information – details of all your financial accounts, tax returns, pay stubs, etc. If you’re getting paid hourly, it’s in your best interest to gather all those documents yourself rather than flipping through piles of disorganized paperwork. Gathering documents was no easy task, but I was able to clear a lot of financial paperwork through that process. That initial organization blitz has continued to pay dividends: We keep only a small collection of financial documents and can easily get to what we need.

4) We like succession planning.

As an unexpected benefit of working with a planner, they now have current information on each of our financial relationships: our bank accounts, company retirement plans and IRAs, and insurance policies. Our accounts are linked to the firm’s financial planning portal so our planners can see what’s happening with them in real time without the need for new documents. Any planner in the company can access our information in a jiffy. If something happens to us, our loved ones will have a one-stop resource to help us sort things out. You can keep faithful records and develop your own succession plan, but storing all of our documents with a third party reduces the worry about records being damaged or lost.

5) A third party can help us give us “authorization to spend.”

My husband and I don’t deprive ourselves, but we have spent our lives earning and saving. It can be mentally challenging to “turn on” the spending switch in retirement. Our planner’s retirement projections (including stress testing for big market downdrafts and tax-law changes) provide tremendous peace of mind. There are other avenues to deal with the “allowed to spend” problem, but for me a financial planner can provide a lot more value in this context. For our peace of mind as we age, this is a relationship we plan to maintain.

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This article was provided to The Associated Press morningstarFor more personal finance content, visit https://www,morningstar,com/personal-finance,

Christine Benz is the director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar.