CLIENT SERVICE

Elevate Your Practice: Integrate Life Goals with Financial Strategy 

By Cindy Jennings

While most financial advisors excel at gathering information to set solid financial goals for their clients, the actual value lies in encouraging clients to envision their lives 10 or more years ahead. This deeper understanding leads to more detailed goals. The result is a more comprehensive and personalized financial plan that aligns with all of a client's long-term needs.

Clients want to feel known by their advisors, in addition to receiving healthy financial returns on investments. Advisors who position themselves to include personal planning that goes beyond the traditional milestones—like saving for college, planning retirement activities, and establishing a charitable legacy—will find they gain more referrals and client assets as trust increases and relationships deepen.

Go Beyond the Traditional Milestones

Financial planners often focus on the significant milestones where life and large expenditures intersect, as these are usually at the top of clients' minds. However, advisors who truly know their clients can help them uncover broader goals. Consider the Davises, a couple on the brink of retirement. They were diligent savers but had yet to think about retirement beyond more golf, gardening, and travel.

This couple only discovered their desire to take their adult children and future grandchildren on a memorable family trip every other year after attending a retirement visioning workshop. The workshop prompted a discussion with their financial advisor, who, understanding the Davis's desires for meaningful family experiences, rearranged their investments to accommodate the trips while protecting their retirement.

Empower Your Clients: Explore Eight Key Life Areas for Comprehensive Planning

As a financial advisor, you play a crucial role in helping clients identify their goals and what will give their lives meaning and fulfillment. Here are eight areas to explore with your clients to develop comprehensive, highly personalized financial plans.

1. Health & Vitality: Beyond healthcare costs, what are your clients' goals in maintaining their well-being? Examples include preventive care and executive health programs, maintaining fitness to hike mountains around the world, cooking healthy meals, and "surfing into our 70s."
2. Fun & Adventure: Many couples focus on saving and forget to plan for enjoyment. Help them envision and fund their desired adventures. Travel is an obvious go-to but this could also be gardening, artistic pursuits, hosting a block party, or planning monthly progressive dinners with friends.
3. Love & Relationship: Prompt them about events like a big milestone anniversary party that may have yet to hit their radar. They may want to plan a date night once a week or month. Some couples find they want to take classes to deepen their communication and connection.
4. Financial & Career: Be mindful that more clients are exploring non-traditional career paths that could affect their long-term finances post-pandemic. Entrepreneurialism is on the rise. People are living longer and redefining what retirement looks like. Help your clients explore new outlets like micro or angel investing, writing a book, mentoring, or earning another degree.
5. Spirituality & Meaning: Studies show when retirement falls short, it's often due to a lack of purpose. Help clients develop a vision for this crucial aspect of their lives. Steer them toward nonprofits for volunteering or being on a board to share their professional skill. They may want to start a nonprofit of their own. Talk to them about donor-advised funds, if appropriate. Or their journey may be more internal, and a meditation class or retreat is ideal.
6. Family & Home: Traditional planning often handles the mechanics of wealth transfer but doesn't address the psychological effects of increased wealth on children. Guide them to resources that teach their children healthy money relationships or create a course yourself as a value-added service. When it comes to homes, second homes, and big moves after retirement, help clients think through what life will be like to live in a smaller place, travel between two locations, or start over in a new state or country. See the case study below for an illustration of a financial advisor's positive impact on big moves.
7. Community & Legacy: Community is crucial to happiness. Your clients may feel called to serve the community in some way but if others are at a loss for how to create community, use the interests uncovered in the other seven areas to help them find or expand their social circle. When leaving a legacy, financial giving isn't the only way to achieve this goal. Some parents and grandparents have embraced the idea of creating a "Cousins' Camp," inspired by the book “Purposeful Retirement.” This concept focuses on fostering close personal bonds among cousins so they gain the relationship closeness and support of additional quasi-siblings.
8. Personal Growth & Learning: Staying engaged is critical, especially in retirement. Encourage clients to explore new hobbies and interests that will keep them fulfilled. Some write books, learn a new language, or live abroad. One client did something new each month that scared her, from speaking at events to paragliding to baking a soufflé.

Not all these examples have financial implications that require adjustments to a financial plan or direct financial counsel. However, when you help clients dig deeper into what brings them joy and create a plan to sustain that joy well into the future, you've made a client for life—one who will likely send you referrals because you take the time to know them, not just their investment accounts.

Case Study: Contrasting Two Client Experiences

To illustrate the difference between traditional financial planning and including personal planning in the process, let's look at two couples entering retirement and relocating across the country.

The Nelsons, a Denver couple, relocated to Nashville to be nearer to their daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild. Conversations with their financial advisor focused on selling their home in Denver and purchasing a new one in Nashville.

Once they arrived in Nashville, reality set in. They realized they could only spend so much time with their daughter and her family, leaving them with many remaining hours in the day. Completely removed from the community they had built over 30-plus years in Denver, the Nelsons needed a community support system and help to find a sense of purpose before seeking help from a personal planning expert.

In contrast, the Dresens had plans to move from Chicago to Boise in retirement. Their advisor focused on both the economic aspects of their move and the emotional and psychological realities of relocating. By asking questions beyond finances, the advisor helped the Dresens clarify what they wanted their life to look like in Boise. This proactive approach from the advisor played a crucial role in assisting the Dresens in achieving the lifestyle they desired in retirement.

The Dresens, both former medical professionals, realized they wanted to fully step away from the medical field in retirement and focus on new pursuits. Their advisor helped them understand how they might fill the intellectual and purpose-driven void left by their careers.

The result has been positive for the Dresens. They now enjoy the outdoor lifestyle of Boise, serve on their HOA board, play pickleball with new friends, and often host their adult children and families.

The critical difference between these two couples lies in the approach taken by their financial advisors. The Nelsons' advisor focused solely on the economic aspects of their move. In contrast, the Dresens' advisor took a more holistic view, helping them prepare for the broader lifestyle changes that come with a big move after retirement. This made all the difference in their respective experiences.

Broaden Your Network to Support Clients

If the personal planning plus financial planning approach feels overwhelming or like too large of a time commitment on your already busy schedule, consider partnering with a personal planning expert, coach, or fractional finance educator to help broaden your conversations with clients. These experts can maximize the value of your time with clients by uncovering goals and needs they might hesitate to share with their financial advisors. This reluctance isn't because of any shortcomings on the advisor's part; most advisors go out of their way to reassure clients they hold no judgment. Instead, this possible reluctance reflects human nature, as money often makes people feel vulnerable with those who know the most about their financial situation and behaviors.

Talking about goals, needs, worries, and desires with a person not directly involved in their finances can sometimes help clients share more openly. A personal planner can then bridge the conversation between personal and financial planning, saving you time while offering an enhanced client experience.

Additionally, consider expanding your network beyond estate attorneys and tax advisors to include health leaders, micro-investment organizations, nonprofits, business coaches, and mental health experts. This comprehensive approach ensures your clients receive well-rounded support and access to resources as they navigate major life transitions and the subsequent financial impacts, from career changes to retirement and beyond.

 

---

Cindy Jennings, president of Interwovenly, created LifeWise™ MasterPlan, a pre-financial planning program that helps clients of financial advisors define their life goals across eight key areas before engaging in financial planning.

image credit: Adobe Stock Images