Everyone Has a Next Financial Move. What's Yours?

When it comes to financial planning, you may feel overwhelmed—unsure where to start, what to prioritize, or whether you’re doing enough. But financial planning is about playing the long game, and it doesn’t have to happen all at once. The best plan is designed uniquely for you and adapts and grows with you.

Financial planning is about making progress that you build upon over time. Your path is unique, so your approach to planning should be, too. We don’t see planning as a one-size-fits-all checklist. Instead, it’s about achieving higher-level financial goals, helping you protect what matters most, grow your wealth over time, and ultimately create a legacy that reflects your values. And you don’t have to do it alone. Your advisor will help you with every step along the way.

As the 2026 Planning & Progress study shows, people who work with a financial advisor have significantly greater feelings of clarity and preparedness in their retirement planning than those who don’t have an advisor. Research from EY also indicates taking a comprehensive approach to planning, combining permanent life insurance and annuities with investments, achieves better retirement income and legacy outcomes.

There’s no better time to start planning than now.

Life moves in phases, and so should your planning

There are different phases you will go through as you build your financial future and get your finances in order. No matter where you are, there’s always room to grow. Your priorities in your 30s may look very different from those in your 50s or beyond. By taking this approach, you can identify where you are today and focus on the planning priorities and solutions that matter most right now—while keeping an eye on what’s next.

Let’s take a closer look at what each phase is designed to accomplish.

1: Foundational planning

Mindset: Early in a career or managing competing priorities like rent or mortgages, student loans, or growing families

Goal: To put safety nets in place and build healthy financial habits

Common focus areas:

• Disability and life insurance to protect income and loved ones
• Creating an emergency fund for unexpected expenses
• Developing a clear debt‑paydown strategy
• Taking advantage of the employer match in retirement plans
• Aligning investments with risk tolerance and time horizon
• Initiating basic estate planning documents

By addressing these fundamentals, foundational planning helps reduce financial stress and creates a sense of control—so you can build toward the future with confidence.

2: Strategic planning

Mindset: Saving at a reasonable rate, earning more, and ready to commit additional money toward longer‑term goals

Goal: To make your money work smarter and support milestones like buying a home, growing a family, or starting a business

Common focus areas:

• Increasing retirement contributions and diversifying across account types
• Expanding emergency savings to cover six to nine months of expenses
• Evolving life insurance strategies as income and responsibilities grow
• Broadening investments through comprehensive asset allocation
• Incorporating long‑term care strategies
• Adding umbrella liability coverage
• Exploring trust and estate planning options

This phase is about flexibility and resilience—helping you adapt your plan as life changes while protecting the progress you’ve already made.

3: Optimized retirement planning

Mindset: Preparing for your transition from working life to retirement living

Goal: To move from building wealth to creating income and distributing your assets as your financial legacy

Common focus areas:

• Increasing retirement and health savings, including catch‑up opportunities
• Creating a clear strategy for drawing income in retirement
• Managing investments using comprehensive asset allocation
• Establishing more guaranteed income sources through the use of annuities
• Strengthening long‑term care protection
• Reviewing life insurance strategies for additional legacy, stable assets, and income flexibility
• Improving tax efficiency in retirement and estate strategies

Optimized retirement planning helps provide peace of mind—so you can step into retirement knowing your plan supports the lifestyle you envision.

4: Wealth transfer planning

Mindset: Preserving what you’ve built and ensuring it benefits the people and causes you care about most

Goal: To transfer your wealth thoughtfully and intentionally while aligning financial decisions with personal values

Common focus areas:

• Reviewing and enhancing estate planning strategies
• Evaluating trust options and gifting techniques
• Using life insurance to improve estate outcomes
• Exploring charitable and legacy planning opportunities
• Coordinating tax management strategies
• Ensuring assets are distributed exactly as intended

With the right planning, wealth can do more than pass on financial value—it can tell your story, support your family, and make a lasting difference.

Your roadmap to financial confidence

Looking at financial planning as a series of phases instead of a checklist helps clarify what matters most right now—without losing sight of the bigger picture. It also helps you invest in your best life and reinforces that progress is built step by step. You don’t need to have everything figured out today to start planning effectively.

With your Northwestern Mutual advisor as a partner, you’ll build a personalized road map together; you can identify opportunities, address blind spots, and adjust your plan as life unfolds.

No matter where you are today, there’s a next step that can help you move forward with confidence.