Find A Financial Life Planner
“Don’t try this at home!”
By Eva Brodzik, Director of Business Development
I am intrigued by the notion that the majority of Financial Advisors report that they do some form of life planning. Yet how many have had any sort of formal training with ongoing coaching and development? It has been said that life planning is merely being client-centered. But if that’s the case, perhaps I should say I’m a golfer because I occasionally golf. Yet I’m typically the most awkward golfer on the course. I use the term awkward because that is the description I most often hear when someone says they “tried” life planning with their clients and found that it seemed clunky and that clients couldn’t quite understand how or why the gears were switched from money to the person.
Kinder programs are designed to give the full experience of Life Planning. What it is, why, when, how…we provide a system and process such that deep and profound results can occur. I am reminded of the the clown on Saturday morning television warning his audience, “Don’t try this at home kids!” when I hear of advisors trying out their own method of life planning and feeling awkward and then apprehensive about attempting it again. How tragic would it be if the results of trying life planning without one’s own development fell flat and then those unfortunate clients never got to realize their true goals?
The learning, development and experiential aspects of the Kinder programs are proven to be the most effective way to create a true cultural shift in the way one does business. The old “you can only take your clients as far as you have gone” directly applies to Life Planning. Since the Kinder programs are specifically designed to teach advisors the process and take them through the experience, the results are both professional and personal development. Participants are learning and experiencing a practical application that can be directly applied to their business.
Traditionally training has been viewed as something people have 'done to them' and there is little ownership and often even less application of the content. However, active and experiential learning engages all of a person’s faculties and results in a higher degree of ownership, retention, and application of the content.
Clients need to have a place to go to find true Life Planners who have the training, experience and development to effectively and skillfully take them through the process. They don’t need someone simply calling themselves a life planner without even fully understanding what exactly that means. What they need is a Registered Life Planner® (RLP®).