IQ Fifty Plus Guide

Financial Planning for Present and Future

Online Resources on the Basics of Financial Planning

The best foundation for personal financial planning is having an overview of the process and understanding how the important components in financial planning work together—cash flow management, income tax planning, risk management planning (insurance), investment planning, retirement planning, and estate planning. The following resources provide an excellent place to start.

Fundamentals of Financial Planning from the Learning For Life program of Florida State University offers a concise but comprehensive overview of all the basic elements of Financial Planning. It’s a great place to start. The site provides various planning tools such as a budget worksheet. It also covers such components as Income Tax Planning and Insurance Planning and Risk Management.

Money 101 from Money Magazine offers 23 ten-minute lessons in a variety of topics related to financial planning. Though they are not organized in a coordinated “course”, each lesson provides clear, useful discussion. CNN Money does have advertisements but the information is sound and without hype.

Financial Planning and Retirement from AARP provides an excellent overview and specific topic articles in planning for adults of all ages. Though the site is strong in retirement and estate planning, the articles cover all aspects including creating a master plan and a number of worksheets and forms to help you keep track of information and records needed for sound financial management.

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards offers “Learn About Financial Planning,” a page on their website that provides resources on the basics of financial planning, particularly about working with a financial planner.

The Federal Consumer Information Center’s Money section offers booklets and articles on money, credit, investing and saving, and retirement planning produced by a variety of government agencies. Read them online for free or order hard copies.

IQ links to sites provided by a variety of sources. We review sites for credibility and reliability, but IQ, of course, can't control advertising and other links on these sites. We advise ignoring pop-up ads, links to sales of products or services, and the like.