Whether it’s losing weight, running a marathon or getting an education, most people do best with a clear goal and timetable. That goes for financial planning, too — whether you’re planning for college, a new home or retirement.

Most investors have a general goal, from living comfortably after they quit work to lavishing gifts on grandchildren and touring the world. But experts urge clients to be more precise and create a plan that includes necessities, desires and a strategy for achieving them — taking into consideration the time it will take to achieve each financial goal.

“Saving for a child’s college might give you an 18-year time horizon while saving for retirement might give you a 30- to 40-year time horizon,” says Evan Tarver, investments analyst at FitSmallBusiness.com, “This time horizon will dictate the types of investments you can choose.”

“Most people come at it looking for the highest rate of return, which is great,” says Ty Young of Ty J. Young Wealth Management in Atlanta. “However, not losing money is the most important thing. You don’t have to make 12 to 15 percent a year to make a reasonable rate of return if you just never lose money.”

[See: 10 Long-Term Investing Strategies That Work.]

The key advice, experts say, is to understand whether the goal can be achieved with an investing strategy that’s likely to work.

If your goal is to preserve the assets you’ve accumulated over a lifetime and survive a market setback, it should be clear to you and your financial professional that it would not make sense to bet the farm on pork bellies.

“Consider factors like how much income and what kind of lifestyle you want in retirement, which are both crucial parts of a financial plan, and then land on a target retirement savings rate to help move you toward that lifestyle,” says Josh Jalinski, president of Jalinski Advisory Group in Toms River, New Jersey.

Mitch Walk, an advisor with Retirement Wealth Specialists outside Orlando, Florida, says he uses a written plan with every client. “Every investor should work with their advisor to put together some type of investment policy statement,” he says. “Having this statement in writing helps hold all parties involved accountable.”

Here, then, are a few of the topics that financial planning should include.

Statement of intent. This is the general goal, like retiring at 66, staying in your home for the rest of your life, leaving principal to grow so it can go to children. “Anyone setting up an investment plan needs to sit down and seriously consider what their financial needs are today, as well as what their financial needs might be in the future,” Walk says. “Are we saving for retirement? College? Medical care? Travel? Living expenses? Or are we planning for a mixture of some, or even all of these?”

Retirement income. Will you get Social Security and a traditional pension, or depend on investment income as well? Any retirement planning you do should answer those questions.

[See: 20 Awesome Dividend Stocks for Guaranteed Income.]

Acceptable risk. Often called “risk tolerance,” this describes how you would balance risk of loss against prospects for bigger returns. Professionals typically ask questions like, “What would you do if your portfolio lost 20 percent of its value? Sell everything? Hang on? Invest more?”

“The gauge for acceptable risk should be the acceptable level of decline in your investments,” Tarver says. “For example, many investments will have the ability to grow by 10 percent or decline by 10 percent in a given year. If a 10 percent short-term decline is acceptable to you, then the risk is therefore acceptable.”

Asset allocation. This is how you divide your investments among various categories of stocks, bonds and cash. Your advisor should be able to provide data on how various combinations have performed in the past.

“Diversification should be integrated from a tax perspective, liquidity perspective and account-type perspective because full diversification that includes these aspects results in flexibility and flexibility means maintained momentum for attaining your financial goals,” says Nicole Peterkin, a planner in Braintree, Massachusetts.

Management. The rise of indexed products that track gauges, like the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, indicate that many investors are content to match the market’s gains rather than try to hit home runs. Which do you want to do? Index investing is suitable for do-it-yourselfers, and if you use a pro you should be clear about what you expect him or her to achieve beyond the index returns you could get on your own. Perhaps you want an active and aggressive approach with just a small portion of your portfolio, with the rest simply tracking the market with a basket of index products. If so, your plan should say so.

Communication. How often should your advisor report your results? How quickly do you expect a call back if you reach out? Do you want to be consulted on every decision, or will you give your advisor some authority to act on his or her own?

“Plans are never guaranteed,” Walk says. “However, it is wise for any investor to meet with their financial advisor two or three times a year, or have some type of review process to track their progress, identify lifestyle needs or goal changes, and see if any adjustments are needed.”

Benchmarks. A portfolio full of stocks and funds that hold stocks in large U.S. companies can be measured against the S&P 500, but small and foreign stocks should have different benchmarks. It should be clear what benchmark will be used with each holding so you can assess results.

Fees. How will your advisor be paid? You might, for example, pay 1 to 3 percent of the value of your portfolio, plus the fees charged by each fund it contains. Be clear about what you get for each fee. It would not make sense, for example, to pay an annual fee on long-term holdings in index funds that require no management.

Walk says, “I recommend that any investor working with a financial professional understand any and all fees up front, follow their plan as best as possible, and review their plan on a regular basis.”

[See: 9 of the Best High-Yield ETFs on the Market.]

A fallback plan. If your investments don’t grow as expected, you may still be able to salvage a comfortable retirement with a few adjustments — visiting national parks instead of cruising the world, and moving to a cheaper home and location. Your plan should provide for fallbacks like taking out a reverse mortgage on your home, working longer or working part time in retirement.

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9 Critical Elements of Financial Planning originally appeared on usnews.com