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3 Financial Planning Scenarios;Which Would You Choose?by GeorgeKinder CFP.RLJP

eorgeKinder CFPRLP, is founder of theKinder Institute of LifePlanning Kinderinstitute,c o m , aglobalorganiza-tion that has trainedthousands ofadvisersfrom25 countries in the skills

oflifeplanning.His latest venture is LifePlanning4You.c o m , an interactivewebsiteforadvisersand theirclients. He is author of numerous books includingLighting the Torch.

reg walked into a financ ialadviser s office. He w asquickly sold on a product thatcould beat the market by a mile if it didwhat historically it had done over thepast 5 yearswell worth the sizeablecommission he would pay to get thosereturn s. Although there w ere additionalcosts to this investment, G reg, whothought of himself a s a numbers guy,lacked the sophistication to see. That sScenario 1.

Scenario :Greg walked into a finan-cial planner s office and was im pressedthat he would receive a com prehensivesolution, with spreadsheets to cover hisfinsm cial concerns until age 100, withdiversified finan cial products to reducethe risks he would have faced w ith thesingle product he had inten ded to buyfrom the fina ncial adviser. The solutionwould include a review of his estateplan, his insurance, his retirement plan,and taxes along with investmentsall

subjects that bored him , but he appreci-ated the efficiency of getting so muchdone in one place. And, he could seehis retireme nt in 20 years from quickcalculations the planner did in regardto the build-up of h is business andhis expected savings. That was usefulinformation.

Scenario 3: Greg walked intothe office of aCFP practitioner andRegistered Life Planner and walkedout exhilarated less than an hour later.His only disappointment: his wife H eidihadn t been along to the first meeting.Eager to talk w ith her, he grabbedhis cell phone and shared all but oneimpo rtant detail. That weekend aftera long walk on her favorite beach hewould bring up the topic they werealways avoiding. In fact, it had beenseveral years since they had last talkedabout it. They both had always beeneager to have another child. He feltclear it was time to address the topic inearnest, or perhaps to face the sorrow o fletting their dream go.T h e o n v e r s a t i o n o f a L i f e t i m eRather than afinancialmeeting with theCFP/RLP professional, it had seemedlike the conversation of a lifetime forGreg, addressing every issue he felt pas-sionate about some of which he d noteven discussed with his best friend andbusiness partner. It had all come out soeasily, surprised as Greg was by the factthat the details d idn t seem to involve

financial decisions.But now that he thoug ht of it, the

birth of a child would have hugefinancial repercussions. The time withhis 12-year-old son Antony on th elinks and the stronger relationshiphe intended to cultivate would taketime from work, a swould the surprisevacation he was going to discuss withhis dad in two weeks.A vacation thatwould echo, and in some small measurerepay, the amazing adventures his fatherhad taken him on when he was a child.A bit distant from his dad, he had beenlonging to renew th eir relationship m dhoped to draw the ideas for the vacationfrom his coming conversation w ith hisfather, as if they were his father s ideas,not his own.

For years he and Heidi had dreamedof owning property in Tanzania, herhomeland . For the first time (and insuch abrief conversation) it actuallyseemed possible to Greg. He knew theywould be discussing it in their nextmeeting with the planner, and he waseager to search the Web when h e gothome for fresh thoughts on location,cost, and qucility.

He cherished his time with H eidi a n dwas both perplexed and thrilled thathe had committed to spending moretime each week with her. H o w w a s itthat such an obvious yearning could gounnoticed for so long, and how surpris-ing it was to be discovered and acted onin afinancialplanning meeting.

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They also had touched on waystosimplify his work life, along withanewdirectionhefelt his business p artnerwould be enthusiastic about. A directionthat would puthis small firmatthecutting edgeintheir competitive field,produce greater profits, and enable himto bringinthe protg he wantedtomentora secret longing to passon hisbusiness wisdom and experience he hadexpected totake place perhaps on thevergeofretirement 20 years hence. E x h i la r a t i n g E x p e r i e n c eTo many of y o u this visittothe lifeplanner sounds incredible. But it's actu-ally the first two visits that are distantmem ories from my own past; this thirdadviser engagement happened justafew w eeks agointhe two-day 7 Stagesof Money Maturity workshop Ideliverafew times a year around the world.It alltook placein ahalf-hour demo nstrationof the VOK life planning process,where I show the first three stages of alife planning interview.

There's moretothis story: Greg'sgreatest personJ re gret was givingup mountaineering. Family andwork responsibilities seemedtohavetaken over,but as hetalked withhislife planner,herealizeditwastheright timein hislifetoreturntothis passion. M ount Kilimanjaro andMount Kenya werenot farfrom whereGreg andHeidi w ould findahomein Tanzania and would be thefirstofeight summitsheaspiredtoclimb.He hopedhecould involve Antonyin someofthese as well. Gettinginshape again was thechallenge,buthe figured hecoulddo thefirst p eakwithin 12 months.

A life planning engagement canbedeliveredinseveral meetingsorjusto n e . Itis alwaysadynamic engage-ment, with the client as excitedaswhen they held their first child (orso I vebeen told by my clients andbyadvisers I've trained).

In life planning circles we hearapocryphal storiesofreferrals comingafter the first meeting, of cocktail ordinner party conversations ringing withreports, and celebrations ofan initiallife planning conversation,orof changesthat have happenedtoa family a s acon-sequence ofvisitsto alife planne r.Thelife planning engagement is exhilaratingfor th e client, but ends iihthe solidityand integrity of a financial planandfinancial architecture dedicated to theclients' fundamental purposesinlife.

S o which of th e three advisers wouldyou g o with?

job is simple: Modelintegrity and deliverfreedom.

D e m o n s t r a t e Y o u r D i ff e re n c e f r o m u s in e s s a s U s u a lThe mantra most in vogueforlifeplanners these days is : model integrity,deliver freedom.Ifthe mantra wereaglobal economic principalinpracticeacross dlfinancialservices, wh atadifferent world we would livein.

Financialhfeplanning deliversfreedom toclients; tha t is clear. Andit isequally important indeed,itis criticalto our clientsin our business practicesas much as inour lives, that we modelintegrity in our client relationships,in living our own life plans, inourauthenticity, inthe costofour services,andinkeeping our distance fromproducts and product compainies. Wehave anextraordinary op portunity atthis momentinhistory to dem onstrateour difference from business as usualin financial services, by dem onstratingunquestionable integrityinour busi-

ness m odels, by modeling trusting andemotionally aw are client relationshipskills, and by the delivery offreedomtoour clients.

A Harris Poll recently revealed the 10most disliked com panies in America.Are you surprised? Six of the 10 werefrom financial services,allremindersof the murky depths and dealings of thebanking crisis: AIGatNo. 1, GoldmanSachs No.2, andBank of Am erica,Gitigroup, JPMorgan Ghase, and WellsFargo rounding out the lot.

On the government side,theSEGclearly knows what their businessis.This summer, by a 4to 1 vote, they freedhedge fundstoadvertisepresumablyhow they can beat the m arket by a mile.Glearlyitis much more importantforgovernment tofree up marketsforhighly expensive, enormously volatileproducts that make their managers richat their clients' expense than to clarifyfor all consumers how to find unbiased,client-centered advice they can trust,farmore importanttofree the advertise-mentforproduct com panies than givethe consumer a clear and hum an way tojudge its accuracy.

The world would welcome g enuineclient-centered leadership in ourlargecompanies and in government.Butthere existsanongoing leadershipvacuum infinanciadservices. You haveto wonder,if a banking crisis can't bringit, what will? For now the answer isclear. Whatever leadership th ere isinfinancia l services must come from us.

Our jo b is simple: Model integrity anddeliver freedom. The message that w ehave to deliver is a powerful o n e . In thelong run, it can't fail.It is always the clientwho comesfirst.Not their money,notcompany profits, not p roducts, not evenspreadsheets orplans.Always the client.

Gonsumers want trust and integrityfrom th eir advisers and their compan ies,but they want freedom from theirmoney.Inlife p lanning , we simply lookthem inthe eye and deliver it. I

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C o p y r i g h t o f J o u r n a l o f F i n a n c i a l P l a n n i n g i s t h e p r o p e r t y o f F i n a n c i a l P l a n n i n g A s s o c i a t i o n

a n d i t s c o n t e n t m a y n o t b e c o p i e d o r e m a i l e d t o m u l t i p l e s i t e s o r p o s t e d t o a l i s t s e r v w i t h o u t

t h e c o p y r i g h t h o l d e r ' s e x p r e s s w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n . H o w e v e r , u s e r s m a y p r i n t , d o w n l o a d , o r

e m a i l a r t i c l e s f o r i n d i v i d u a l u s e .