Your Starting Point

A journey of a thousand miles may begin with one step, but chances are that you won't know what direction to walk unless you first know where you're standing. However, this may be something that you would just as soon avoid.

Maybe you'd rather not think about the money you know you should have saved, but didn't, or about some of your investments that haven't turned out as planned. And even if you are satisfied with your saving and investment performance, looking to the future certainly seems more fruitful than dwelling on the past.

While any plan to maximize your wealth will focus primarily on the future, you can't completely ignore your financial past and present. Even if you don't have to make major adjustments in how you handle your personal finances, you need an accurate picture of your current finances, if for no other reason than to gauge how much more money you'll need to meet your various financial goals.

So, how do you answer the question: "What do you have now?" We suggest that you follow this three-step process:

• Inventorying your assets and liabilities
• Building your budget
• Assembling important documents

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