Creating any type of financial plan starts with your current situation and your goals. Its going to be a long road trip if you don't know where you are at the beginning. Therefore, lets create a few different scenarios depending upon your age and financial situation.

Real world here I come! Oh wait, having a job isn't exactly that fun is it? Are you sure you meant 8am because I really thought you said more like 9:30am?

All questions we were probably thinking after college. Then comes the realization that taxes are real and your least favorite charity is the IRS. Financial planning is more important at this stage as any because this is the foundation of your retirement where you can build a sturdy reinforced support for the rest of your days or make mistakes that will constantly chip away at you over the years.

Like most college graduates, you are leaving with substantial college debt from student loans. You also have to find a place to live and sustain your head above water. Try cutting costs as much as possible.

Get a roommate to share half your expenses Take the subway or carpool Learn to cook or find a roommate that can. Worse - beg Mom for a recipe book. Costco is your best friend.

You don't have to squeak by, but make a budget and stick to it. This will help you start saving for an emergency savings fund in case you are downsized or can't work for some reason. This should be a minimum of 3 months of your monthly bills.

Take advantage of your employers 401k matching funds (if available). Your employer is essentially giving away free money, so it is in your best interest to take it. Would you leave a $20 bill on the ground if you saw it? No you wouldn't, or at least take it to the lost and found. Point is, start saving in your 20s because retirement funds build up profits over time and those profits create more profits increasingly exponentially.

Now that you are married (or divorced) with 2.2 kids, white picket fence and a dog named Spot, its time to take serious notice of where you are and what you need to do to ensure a comfortable life for yourself and family. This is the time you should be maxing out your retirement accounts or allocating every dime you can spare at the very least. If you have extra funds available, you can chose between an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a regular investment account. The deciding factor should be your immediate need for those funds.

If you feel you might need these funds in the short term, by all means keep them in a taxable investment account versus an IRA. There are substantial penalties for withdrawing funds early from a retirement account, and should be thoroughly researched before such a drastic step is taken.

If you have children, your best option for saving for their education are 529 education plans. These function similarly to a 401k or IRA, but are created to pay for a child's tuition and school related expenses.

Life insurance is always a good decision during this time period, especially since you are young and in good health (hopefully). Its never to early to plan, and its always prudent to play for your families financial needs if the unthinkable occurs. On this note, creating a living will and estate plan is a very prudent course of action as well.

Your 50s and 60s should be a time of self fulfillment and reflection, not of financial worry. Hopefully, during your lifetime you have saved enough to allow a comfortable retirement through wise planning and discipline.

If not, recent regulations allows you to increase your retirement fund maximum allowance to accelerate your retirement goals. If you find yourself in a secure and comfortable retirement, nothing says you can't take advantage of these allowances as well. Remember, its perfectly acceptable to leave your funds to your heirs. Just ignore the rotten nephew/niece that you never liked when it comes writing out your estate plan.

As you can see, different ages and situations requires different strategies for a sucessful financial plan. If you are younger, you can obviously afford more risk since you have tens of years until retirement comes around. Place your money in well managed, low expense ratio mutual funds or index funds to limit unnecessary risk while capitalizing on higher rates of return.

Alternatively, if you are knocking on retirement's door, scale back your risk and play a volatile market with caution. Keep you money in less volative income generating equities or fixed income assets that will continue to outpace inflation and providing you with income once you retire.

Personal Note: As always, I'm available for questions so just leave a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP.