Alexandra Armstrong: Hi! I am Alexandra Armstrong and I am the member of the Financial Planning Association. I am here to discuss the basics of financial planning. Right now, I am going to talk about implementing your financial plan.

Once your strategies are mapped out and defined, then it's time to create a schedule for implementing your plan. The schedule should list each step and a deadline for accomplishing it. This is done to make you and your planner accountable for strategies that have been adopted. Sticking to the schedule helps you know how the plan is progressing. Some steps such as figuring out how to reduce your expenses can be done in a short period of time. Others like making changes to your investment portfolio are better accomplished over a longer period to get a more accurate picture. By now the hard work is done and now it's time to begin actually implementing the plan. As I said earlier any financial plan, no matter how impressive or well designed is worthless unless it's implemented. One advantage of hiring a financial planner is that he or she can see that all the elements of your plan are put into effect and the work of specialists are coordinated on your behalf. For example, you will need a lawyer to handle matters such as your will or durable power of attorney for health care or you maintain an account to prepare your tax returns.

Now you know the importance of implementing your financial plan, let's move on to monitoring your financial plan and making necessary adjustments.