This area focuses on your current and future financial situation. It is characterized by your net worth, cash flow and budget. Financial math skills are important for this area and constitute the basis of financial planning, which is rooted in the time value of money.

This financial planning area looks at the best way to manage the your income-producing assets, based on your past experience, personality, objectives, time horizon, risk tolerance and income needs. The process includes an examination of investments held by you at a given date, not only cash, bonds and shares, but also land and other real estate assets.

Risk management consists of defining strategies to manage your exposure to unexpected financial losses, such as those that occur due to death or health problems. Your financial planner compares the risks to which you'd be exposed to your available assets and the insurance coverage in place, in order to evaluate shortfalls and prioritize risk management needs. Insurance concepts are complex and form an integral part of this financial planning area.

Taxation focuses on understanding the tax obligations of taxpayers and how to organize them to keep your family tax burden at a minimum, in particular by using personal or business tax deferral mechanisms. Taxation is an important financial planning area because most financial decisions have tax repercussions, which highlights the need to include these concepts in the analysis of all situations covered by financial planning, not solely the taxation situation.

This financial planning area requires in-depth knowledge of tax and social programs related to retirement and retirement planning, including retirement savings tax breaks, government benefits and employer pension benefits.

Legal issues that influence the transfer and preservation of a person’s property and assets on their death.

The knowledge related to this financial planning area is fundamental, because financial planners need to understand their clients’ legal situation in order to take it into account in the analysis. This could involve financial support obligations towards a spouse or children or the right to such support, obligations to third parties, obligations or rights under shareholders’ agreements, partnership agreements or trust deeds, powers of attorney or protection mandates. It is crucial to have full knowledge of the client’s legal rights and obligations because these can have repercussions on the achievement of the your goals.