FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Listed below are some of the questions that I’ve received recently regarding financial planning in general, my practice, and investing in general.

Q: What is Financial Planning?
A: Financial Planning, as a whole, is the collective act of planning for investments, insurance, income tax, retirement, estate, employee benefits and education planning. A Financial Planner is an individual who is trained to work with individuals and families in order to develop a plan integrating all of the above-listed areas into a working plan.
The Financial Planning engagement doesn’t always cover all of these areas. Most often, an individual or family will be interested in working out a plan for one area of their life, like a retirement plan. By working with a Financial Planner, the client will know that the goal is to develop this plan so that it works together with the other financial circumstances in their life.

Q: Why do I need a Financial Plan?
A: The truth is, you may not need a Financial Plan. However, nearly everyone can use a second opinion on some area of their finances. The beauty of the way Blankenship Financial Planning operates is that you control the engagement, including how much time we spend, and ultimately how much the engagement will cost you. If you just want a second opinion on an insurance policy, or would like assistance on how to invest your 401(k) plan at work, then that’s all we’ll work on.
If, on the other hand, you would like me to help you lay out a comprehensive financial roadmap, then we can work that out, as well.
When you go through major changes in your life, it’s a good time to do a comprehensive review. For example…
… when a new child is born – this will impact insurance, income taxes, education planning, retirement planning, employee benefits, and quite likely investments and estate planning;
… when you change jobs, it impacts retirement, insurance, income taxes, and employee benefits; or
… when you marry or divorce, all areas of your finances are impacted.

Q: What are your office hours?
A: I don’t keep regular “walk-in” office hours for two reasons: 1) many times I need to go to a client’s home or office for a meeting; and 2) if I am meeting with a client at my office, I can’t have someone walk in and interrupt our meeting. I hold all meetings with clients in the strictest of confidentiality, and I will not compromise.
I think you’ll find that, in making an appointment (217-488-6473), I am quite flexible and can fit just about anyone’s schedule. As I indicated before, quite often I go to a client’s home or office for our meetings, rather than the client coming to my office – as a convenience factor to you.
With regard to the confidentiality of meetings, I consider all interactions with clients to be strictly confidential. I am occasionally asked by prospective clients for a list of current clients that they may contact. Since the utmost of confidence is being placed in me through our relationship, I have no intention to even share names of my clients with others without the clients’ express permission.

Q: What do you think of the economy right now?
A: Let me first say that I believe in the American capitalism mode of business, and I think it’s the best thing going. I have been and intend to continue to participate in the American way of doing business, investing, and in democracy in general.
What I see for the up-coming year or so is a period of stagnation, similar to what we’ve seen (overall) in the past couple of years. If there is any gain at all in the stock market, I don’t expect much. Regarding interest rates, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised by a minor increase toward the end of 2004 or early 2005.
With all of the uncertainty across the globe today, regarding terrorism, coupled with the Presidential election in the US this fall, I expect the markets to move pretty much sideways, with a small potential for a downward move retracing some of the gains from the previous twelve months.
The past couple of quarters have shown a small degree of domestic economic growth, which could signal the need for an increase in the Federal Funds Rate by the Federal Reserve Board. I wouldn’t expect any dramatic increase, however, as the inflation numbers are pretty tame by historical standards.