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Episode Summary
Financial planning without any regard for the person’s dreams, values, and life they want to live is nothing more than numbers on paper.
A person’s dreams, values, and life they want to live without any regard for money is nothing more than a fantasy.
That’s why the future of financial planning is life planning.
And, as a financial advisor or planner, you are given the opportunity to connect a client’s finances with the life they want to live.
You are the one person in your client’s lives with the ability to help them connect their money to meaning.
Life planning is simply connecting the client’s dreams and values with the strategies of financial planning that create the life of freedom that person envisions (oftentimes with the guidance of an advisor).
But knowing the value of life planning and effectively applying it into your process and conversations are two vastly different things.
Most advisors will feel comfortable with the money side of the equation (the financial strategies).
But what does effective life planning actually look like when layered into your process and conversations?
What’s the best time to start having these emotional, heartfelt conversations? What do these conversations actually sound like? How do you make sure you’re seamlessly integrating this without it feeling forced?
And, maybe most importantly, what exactly do you do with this information you’ve uncovered from someone to actually change their lives?
Scott Frank CFA, CFP® launched his career in financial advice by focusing heavily on building his technical knowledge base first with the CFA and then the CFP®, assuming that as long as he had the knowledge, he would have clients coming to him and following his advice.
But, it didn’t take him long before he realized that no amount of technical knowledge would help his clients if they didn’t actually implement it.
And while his technical knowledge might have helped him create more wealth for his clients, he couldn’t shake this question: “What’s the point unless that money is used to fuel the dreams, values, and life they want to live?”. Which required more than a CFA and CFP™ and led to his pursuit of the Registered Life Planner (RLP) designation.
In this conversation, he walks us through his entire process and tells exactly what life planning looks like in action.
If you’ve ever dabbled with some life planning concepts and wondered just how powerful it can be, this episode is a must-listen!
Things You’ll Learn
- The important distinction advisors need to make to go from being the client’s “hero” to their “guide.”
- How time, money, energy, and talent factor into money decisions
- Scott’s four meeting process and how he layers in the Life Planning approach throughout
- Why the phrase “I don’t think so” should be a signal that the person actually wants to tell you more
- The conversational technique that gets people to open up and share things that are most important to them
- What good active listening sounds like and some ways to improve
- The #1 goal Scott has for every meeting that creates connection, buy in, and follow-through
- Why your pre-meeting prep should always include going back to listen/read notes from the previous meeting
- The importance of guiding clients to recognize their own solutions to obstacles rather than telling them the answer
- A proven process to identify and overcome obstacles on the path to implementation
- How to create a lens through which to make all financial decisions based on life rather than returns
About Scott Frank CFA, CFP®
Scott Frank is the founder of Stone Steps Financial, an RIA in Encinitas, CA and holds the designations of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), and Registered Life Planner (RLP). He was named to InvestmentNews 40 Under 40 in 2019.
In addition to running his own firm, Scott still works with the Kinder Institute where he coaches and trains advisors around the world on the Life Planning process and how to implement it into their practices.
Other Episodes You’ll Like On Life Planning
- Episode 20: The Future Of Financial Planning Is Life Planning w/ George Kinder
- Episode 31 & 32: A 5-Step Planning Process For Syncing And Emotional Well-Being w/ Amy Mullen
- Episode 17: Delivering Human-First Financial Planning With A Chief Behavioral Officer w/ Adrian Murphy
Resources
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you master the human side of advice:
- HSOA Masterclass: An 8-week group program on building trust & connection, aligning money and life, and delivering frictionless advice.
- The Ultimate Discovery Meeting: A proven framework to seamlessly convert prospects into life-long clients in one meeting.
- HSOA Community (COMING SOON!): An online space to meet, collaborate, discuss, brainstorm, learn and grow with other advisors passionate about the human side of advice
If you’re interested, let me know here.