Wants
Clarify priorities, goals, tradeoffs, and the life outcomes a plan is meant to support.
Framework hub
The WISDOM Framework
Financial planning begins with WISDOM.
The WISDOM framework is a structured approach to understanding your financial picture before building a plan. It organizes financial planning into six connected areas: Wants, Income, Spending, Debts, Ownership, and Mitigations.
Framework structure
Six connected planning areas
Income
Map employment income, pension income, benefits, investment income, and future cash-flow sources.
Spending
Understand current spending, future spending needs, inflation exposure, and sustainable cash-flow patterns.
Debts
Review mortgages, loans, repayment schedules, interest costs, and debt-risk exposure.
Ownership
Organize accounts, assets, property, business interests, beneficiary designations, and estate ownership structure.
Mitigations
Identify risks, insurance needs, emergency reserves, tax exposure, legal documents, and planning safeguards.
Explore the framework
WISDOM planning areas
Each area will eventually connect articles, calculators, and reference pages. The first foundation article is available now.
Wants
Start by naming what matters: priorities, timelines, lifestyle goals, family responsibilities, and tradeoffs.
Income
Connect income sources to the timing and reliability of future cash flow.
Spending
Translate spending needs into planning assumptions that can be tested across different scenarios.
Debts
Understand payment structure, interest cost, and the role debt plays in cash-flow planning.
Ownership
Review how assets and accounts are held, titled, taxed, and eventually transferred.
Mitigations
Consider risks, uncertainty, insurance, tax exposure, legal planning, and buffers that make a plan more resilient.