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Real estate or immovable property is a legal term
(in some jurisdictions) that encompasses land along
with anything permanently affixed to the land, such
as buildings.
Real estate (immovable property) is often considered synonymous with real property
(also sometimes called realty), in contrast with personal
property (also sometimes called chattel or personality).
However, for technical purposes, some people prefer
to distinguish real estate, referring to the land and
fixtures themselves, from real property, referring to
ownership rights over real estate. The terms real estate
and real property are used primarily in common law,
while civil law jurisdictions refer instead to immovable
property.
In recent years, many economists have
recognized that the lack of effective real estate laws
can be a significant barrier to investment in many developing
countries. In most societies, rich or poor, a significant
fraction of the total wealth is in the form of land
and buildings. In most advanced economies, the main
source of capital used by individuals and small companies
to purchase and improve land and buildings is mortgages bank loans for which the real property itself constitutes collateral.
Banks are willing to make such loans at favorable rates
in large part because if the borrower does not make
payments the lender can foreclose, that is, file a court
action that lets them take the property and sell it
to get their money back. But in many developing countries
there is no effective means by which a lender could
foreclose, so the mortgage loan industry as such
either does not exist at all or is only available to
members of privileged social classes.
A Financial Planner or Personal Financial
Planner is a practicing professional who helps people
to deal with various personal financial issues through
proper planning, which includes but not limited to these
major areas: tertiary education planning, retirement
planning, investment planning, risk management and Home
insurance planning, tax planning, estate
planning and business succession planning (for business
owners) and Debt Consolidation. The work engaged in by this
professional is commonly known as personal financial
planning. In carrying out the planning function, he
is guided by the financial planning process to create
a detailed strategy tailored to a client's specific
situation, for meeting a client's specific goals.
Personal financial planning is broadly defined as a process of determining an individual's financial goals, purposes in life and life's priorities, and after considering his resources, risk profile and current lifestyle, to detail a balanced and realistic plan to meet those goals. The individual's goals are used as guideposts to map a course of action on 'what needs to be done' to reach those goals.
Alongside the data gathering exercise, the purpose of each goal is determined to ensure that the goal is meaningful in the context of the individual's situation. Through a process of careful analysis, these goals are subjected to a reality check by considering the individual's current and future resources available to achieve them. In the process, the constraints and obstacles to these goals are noted. The information will be used later to determine if there are sufficient resources available to get to these goals, and what other things need to be considered in the process. If the resources are insufficient or absent to meet any of the goals, the particular goal will be adjusted to a more realistic level or will be replaced with a new goal.
Planning often requires consideration of self-constraints in postponing some enjoyment today for the sake of the future. To be effective, the plan should consider the individual's current lifestyle so that the 'pain' in postponing current pleasures is bearable over the term of the plan. In times where current sacrifices are involved, the plan should help ensure that the pursuit of the goal will continue. A plan should consider the importance of each goal and should prioritize each goal. Many financial plans fail because these practical points were not sufficiently considered.
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