If you think you’d benefit from having a little expert input from a financial advisor, you’re not wrong! But you may want to think about exactly what it is you expect from them. What kind of advice should your financial planning advisor give you? What are the hard benefits of receiving expert finance advice? To (begin to) answer some of these questions, lets look at what kind of work financial planning companies typically do.

The first thing to understand is that financial planning companies (if they’re any good, that is) will base their advice and analysis on your stated goals. Whether you’re seeking personal financial counsel, or employing a financial planning company to help your business, you’ll need to be clear about what it is you want to accomplish. Are you trying to expand your company? Are you looking to begin investing? Are you focusing on saving for retirement? Advisors from really stellar financial planning companies will help you formulate a workable plan to reach these goals in the forseeable future.

Some questions a financial planning company might help you answer? For personal advisement, this would mean topics like: What type and extent of insurance coverage you need. What type(s) of retirement accounts to use. How much money you should have set aside in your emergency fund. What type of mortgage you ought to have. What changes you might be able to make in your tax filing that could save you money. And also what your overall rate of return needs to be to eventually reach your ultimate financial goal.

These and other similar questions are much more easily addressed with the help of a seasoned financial professional. If you want some expert advice to help you reach your goals, investigating some financial planning companies means you’re on the right track.