Not all of us are blessed, in our chosen paths, with such supreme natural ability, however, which is why I believe proper planning is preferable to flying by the seat of your pants. This is especially true of financial planning - because there is no such thing as a naturally gifted investor, only someone with investing aptitude that works extremely hard to make the most of it. Turning to one of golf's greats, it was Gary Player who said "the more I practice, the luckier I get". The same is true of investing.
So, when things go wrong - as they frequently do - a plan gives you a path to get back onto, or at worst a goal to keep working towards. That's reassuring when your financial future is at stake, because things don't just 'work out in the end' when it comes to money. Unless you start saving early, it's unlikely that enough cash to fund a comfortable retirement will miraculously appear in your bank account.
With that in mind, investment planning should be broken down into three parts: know yourself, set an objective, and finally work out how you're going to get there. It's advice we repeat time and time again in our weekly reader portfolio reviews because time and time again people forget these basic disciplines.
Parts one and two only you can answer, of course. But part three of the process is where we come in, helping you navigate the huge choice of investments out there - alongside the 1,700 listed companies on the LSE you'll find another 400 investment trusts and 2,500 open ended funds. As you can imagine, then, putting this week's Top 100 Funds together was a huge undertaking, but as the only truly independent survey available we think you'll find it useful in building your financial plan.
Among these funds you'll also find a number of wealth preservation ideas, important because no plan can ever take into account what Harold Macmillan once allegedly revealed as his greatest fear: "events, dear boy, events". Indeed, while Western economies appear to be pulling themselves together, it looks to me more like the result of muddling through than any great vision. Which means there are still plenty of potential problems lurking – not least escalating tension in the Middle East, a reigniting of concerns over the US debt ceiling, and emerging market wobbles.
I am in little doubt that one of these events will come along and hit markets for six again - when it does, you'll be glad you have a plan.
