When making a cake, the ingredients are designed to go well together, and all need to be measured out perfectly. Mess one component up, and you might end up with a hot mess.

Sure, you can make alterations to the formula, like adding chocolate chips to give it a little extra chocolatey hit, but you wouldn’t go and add, say, cumin to your cake batter (which has happened to someone out there, I’m sure). Some things don’t go in cake batter.

The perfect cake recipe is truly a science. You need to understand the effect of each ingredient and its effect on the results of your finished product. For example, if you add too much flour to a cake recipe, you might end up with a dry cake. Too much baking powder will give you a bitter flavor that will taste terrible – but if you don’t add enough, your cake won’t rise. It is for this reason that recipes should be followed as they are written – for the most part.

A financial plan is very much the same. But, the difference is that there is no tried and true “Mom’s secret recipe” that blows all others out of the water. You won’t find it stashed in the back of a Rolodex or hastily written on an old notepad getting passed down through the generations. A financial plan is a recipe, but one tailored specifically to your situation.

Just as you may choose to substitute a sweetener over sugar or add peanut butter chips to a cookie recipe, your financial plan will contain your specific additions, choices, and guidelines determined by what you want to get out of it.

Give us a call at 513-563-PLAN (7526) or book online to have a 15-minute chat with one of our advisors. We’ll help you make a plan that’s as sweet as a double-decker triple chocolate cake.

Regards,
Nikki Earley, CFP®