Financial planners advise clients on how best to save, invest, and grow their money. They can help you tackle a specific financial goal—such as readying yourself to buy a house—or give you a macro view of your money and the interplay of your various assets. Some specialize in retirement or estate planning, while some others consult on a range of financial matters.

Don’t confuse planners with stockbrokers — the market mavens people call to trade stocks. Financial planners also differ from accountants who can help you lower your tax bill, insurance agents who might lure you in with complicated life insurance policies, or the person at your local Fidelity office urging you to buy mutual funds.

Traditional financial planning is all about math and money. You look at how much you earn, figure out how much you will need in the future to maintain your desired lifestyle and try to come up with an investment plan that will help you reach the magic number that will allow you to retire. The process is generally about as exciting as balancing a checkbook and as emotionally draining as paying taxes.

Unfortunately, many people choose not to deal with it all, preferring to put off worrying about the future until it arrives. Others go about the process with a sort of resignation born of the fact that, aside from death and taxes, your bills are just another part of life - they need to be dealt with because you don't have much choice. However, there's a quiet minority of investors that are taking a different approach. It goes by a variety of names, but "life planning" is one of the more frequently heard terms.