The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips from an Expert

by Dan Gallagher

There are six interrelated segments to a complete financial plan: Cash & Budget Planning, Insurance & Risk Management, Tax Management, Retirement Planning, Investment Planning, and Estate Planning. What aspects of the financial plan require sophisticated planning by a professional, and what can savvy, well-educated consumers handle themselves? The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning empowers readers to take charge of their financial present and future, regardless of where they are financially, by presenting technical jargon in a way that's easy to understand. This book touts several unique and rare reader benefits:

Written for DIYers and those needing to select or understand advisors

Useful for new savers up to mid-retirees

30 dramatic true stores of client triumphs and tragedies--no dull case studies

Unbiased perspective is neither insurance nor investment skewed, and provides industry secrets

Access via author website to customizable spreadsheets and more

Here is sage advice and insider information known to the very few. For example, consumers buy more long-term care insurance then they need because their advisors are forbidden to show them alternative or supplemental strategies. They buy one large life policy when best-practice analysis usually would find need for two smaller, distinctive types. They get recommendations for annuity, insurance, and investment replacement, but how can they be certain the answers they get are unbiased? Author Dan Gallagher provides advice and counsel that will help readers set the stage for financial security for themselves and their families. He shares what you can do yourself and when you need a pro's help.

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2018

About the author

Dan graduated from Virginia Military Institute (1981), third among Economics majors, simultaneously completing the Modern Languages curriculum. He served in the Infantry, then as a reservist in a Special Forces support role, next as a Training Company Commander and later in a classified Army Research Institute role. Dan completed his Master of Business Administration at William & Mary (1986). He and wife Laura married in 1988, loved raising their four children, and assisted both Boy and Girl Scouting through their church. During his practice (retired Dec 2017) Dan’s professional designations included: Chartered Financial Consultant & Chartered Life Underwriter (1989), Certified Financial Planner® (1992) and Certified Business Intermediary (2002). Dan is now retired. His thirty-year financial practice encompassed group and individual benefits, money management, financial plans, business valuation & brokerage, commercial realty and – often very personal – counseling. Dan has given numerous seminars at major employers and other entities, is the author of a novel, a licensing manual, and numerous articles in journals such as Virginia Lawyers Weekly, Financial & Estate Planning and Charlotte Ventures. In 12/2015, Dan completed the University of North Carolina Graduate Teaching program and retired from financial services to work professionally as a writer, freelance editor and educator. His spine pain syndrome soon halted work, but he "powers through" with short stories. Dan’s fiction and narrative nonfiction have been published by Skyhorse Publishing, Superversive Press, Millhaven Press, Creative Loafing, NFAA Archery, AncientProphecies Press, and StoriesAmazing partners.

Reviews

[Dan Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are too few ratings for readers to get an accurate estimate of reader satisfaction. One reviewer of the two on GoodReads apparently never used eBooks before and cited odd spacing on pages as a reason for low ratings! So readers are strongly encouraged to check venues with numerous reader and professional reviews, and to ignire average ratings when a venue has a small number of them.

[Lynn Seldon · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a former stockbroker who helped many clients with their financial plans, I found this book to be a great asset. I'd wish I'd had it around back then...I would have bought one for every client. Dan's an expert and gives a slew of great tips! Highly-recommended!

[Danny Yong · Rating 1 out of 5]

The stories are a major turn off. There are dozens of so called strategies but don't seems to have any structure to it. At the end, it's largely a bore.
Also, authors need to be aware, nowadays their books reach an audience far larger than their own homelands. Being too concentrated on tools only available in their country make their expertise look limited.