Financial consulting

Financial consultants offer advice particularly charted for a specific client company or an individual to invest and build wealth. Their services include financial planning and guidance through some insurance decisions. They might invest in buying and selling stocks on their client’s behalf or offer financial products.

The financial consultants meet with the client to discuss their finances like incomes and expenses, assets and liabilities, and form a plan accordingly to achieve their client’s different investment goals. These might include short-term goals like managing the taxes, trading in bonds, or long-term goals like buying a house, paying for grandchildren’s education, or even retirement planning.

Depending on their specialization, a financial consultant can help their client with specialized planning. Financial consultants and financial advisors are two different terms, although often used interchangeably. Financial consultants have a degree called the chartered financial consultant or ChFC. Make sure to ask your consultant or advisor about his certificates.

Financial consultancy can be done in three ways.

1. Robo-advisor: if you want to make investments but want to manage your portfolio yourself, it is possible with a Robo-advisor.

2. Online financial planning: These services provide financial planning at affordable rates than in-person consultants.

3. In-person financial consultants: in-person consultants can be expensive but can be beneficial in the long run. They can get to know you on a personal level which in turn would help you in terms of goals like buying a house or saving for retirement, etc.

Following are the services provided by a financial consultant.

1. Investment advice

Investment advice is a recommendation or counsel that educates or informs an investor regarding a service or product. Bankers, brokers, financial advisors, and consultants provide investment advice specific to their client’s long-term or short-term goals.

The professional giving investment advice has to make sure of their client’s standings, assets, incomes, and expenses. The professional also has to make sure he has no conflict of interest in the specific investment service he is offering the client, or he is deemed liable for the damages or losses the client goes through.


2. Taxation planning

Tax planning helps taxpayers to use the exemptions, deductions, and benefits to the best of their interest to minimize their payable taxes. Taxation planning is analyzing one’s financial situation to optimize the finances to the best of their abilities.

Taxation planning helps save one’s finances on taxes and at the same time conforms to the legal requirements and obligations of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

There are 4 types of Tax Planning:

i. Short-term tax planning: The planning that takes place and is executed at the end of the fiscal year to save the tax finances is termed Short-term tax planning.

ii. Long-term tax planning: This planning begins at the start of the fiscal year and the individual follows it through the year. The gains are not visible promptly, but it is beneficial in the long run.

iii. Permissive tax planning: This practice involves planning under different provisions of the taxation act like exemptions, deductions, incentives, etc.

iv. Purposive tax planning: Purposive tax planning includes using the taxpayer’s assets and other instruments to invest in diversified businesses, creating an arrangement to replace the agenda if needed

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