Ivo Valkenburg is the founder of Adviesklimaat,  (www.adviesklimaat.nl). Inspired by the mission to support people to follow their heart in business. It is difficult to stick a label to Ivo. He is a well-sought after speaker at congresses and national and international meetings of companies and organizations in the financial world. He works as a management consultant in comprehensive organization changes and as a trainer/workshop leader in the fields of financial life planning, pensions, healthcare, ethics and creative thinking. As an ambassador of George Kinder he introduced financial life planning into the Netherlands.

Q: What would you like to say about how life planning has changed in your personal and professional life?
When I walked into the first 2 day workshop at the FPA Conference Philadelphia, George Kinder touched me in a profound way within the first 10 minutes.  He shared about his personal experiences around a separation between money and meaning. Being at home in the financial world for over 20 years, and in the spiritual world since childhood … it was the first time I heard someone speaking so deeply about healing the relationship between spirit and finance. Life Planning helped me a lot to translate ideas and deep longings from the heart into reality, into the material world. It helped me to realize there are no two worlds. We are all connected and in the source we are one.

Q: What helped you to decide to enroll in your first Kinder Life Planning workshop?
I was triggered by something like ‘money and psychology’. Not having any idea what was going to happen. By the way, I don’t believe in coincidence.

Q: How does your Life Planning Practice differ from the other Financial Planning Practices in the area?
The Life Planning approach is deep and profound. It’s all about listening and acting on to the voice of people’s hearts. It’s financial planning done from a new paradigm of business. Supporting people to move from ‘life-as-usual’ to ‘life-as-it could-be’.

Q: What are the top 2 actions you have taken to spread the word about Life Planning in The Netherlands?
First of all I created a foundation for a fast growing community of financial planners, bankers, insurance agents, stockbrokers and other professionals who really want to work according to a new paradigm of business. It’s my personal gut feeling that about 30% of the total community of financial people are longing for a return to the human aspect in the new financial world. I support these people to express their voices by organizing conferences, retreats, workshops, virtual platforms and by actively involving the national media to spotlight these people. One example is last September we brought over 400 financial advisors together in a Worldcafé to start a dialogue on the future of finance. It generated a group of beautiful people working on customer education and coaching other financial planners to find new ways in their existing practices. The Dutch regulators mentioned Life Planning as an example of best practice.

Another top action I would like to mention is Allianz Pure Life. The former CEO of Allianz (www.allianz.nl), Paul Versteeg, invited me to make my dreams come true. “You can give workshops and presentations, but don’t you want to implement it on a large business scale?” as Paul Versteeg challenged me back in early 2005. My response to him was that if he would start with Allianz, I would support him 100% by creating a new breed of financial planners. “Give me a list of 20 planners who really want to work in a new way and you are my man”, Paul Versteeg said. The list was made in half an hour and now over 150 planners have received extensive training of more than 1 year to transform their business into a practice with loyal “Clients for Life” based on a healthy economic business model. The 5 day training and the mentorship are the backbone of the program. Paul Versteeg has left Allianz and followed the voice of his heart. Sjoerd Laarberg who is now responsible (as a member of the board of directors) for Allianz Pure Life embraced the movement also from the beginning and has plans to enlarge the project. A wonderful example that positive change can be possible, even within the corporate environment of a business listed on the international stock market.

Q: Describe a client situation where Life Planning made a profound difference
(for the client and/or for you).
It’s hard to choose one example. Let’s look at my first client case. Her name is Ellen te Brake. I’ll never forget her sparkling voice, full of love and vigor, saying ‘You do already the things I so much love to do. We shared a deep conversation on the 3 questions and the grids. She talked about ‘the colours of Tibet, peace, silence, the spirituality, the Buddha’. ‘I am looking for meaning in life’. When I asked her what that means to her, she answered with emotion in her voice ‘to express your love from within to the outside world’. “I can not always express that love”. It was one of the highlights in the conversation. Here we touched the yearning of her beautiful soul. She started to talk about how much she would love to express herself in writing and other forms of creativity; to express her potential, which is huge, but barely shown to the world. The beauty of her soul touched me deeply. It was the beginning of a process of personal transformation. Ellen has now left a low paying job with little satisfaction and has built up a flourishing business (www.llnz.nl). She is a very powerful writer and knows how to communicate her messages. The Life Planning process helped Ellen to really act on her heartscore and to remove some important internal and external obstacles.

Q: What were the most significant challenges you have overcome in your practice and how did you overcome them?
Starting a business with a new approach. Including staff, a large working space and a strong mission to accomplish in the financial world. It needed understanding, being at ease in the midst of all kind of difficult feelings; to let the thoughts go and just let the feelings be. I could not have done it without that practice.

Q: In what ways is your practice more successful since you have added Life Planning?
When your heart gets clear, doors open everywhere. You often seem to be at the right place, meeting the right people, making the right decisions and having the right relationships. The Seven Stages of Money Maturity helped me reach out to Vision and Aloha!