From left to right: Michael Knight, Mike Morton, Danqin Fang, Robbie Schoonmaker
At this year’s Garrett Planning Network Retreat, four Registered Life Planner® professionals took the stage for a panel titled “Changing Lives and Building Stronger Client Relationships.” The conversation offered a candid, moving look at how the training and philosophy of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning is shaping the next generation of fiduciary practice.
The panel featured Danqin Fang, RLP®, founder of Wealth Beyond Math, Mike Morton, CFP®, RLP®, ChFC®, founder of Morton Financial Advice, Michael Knight, CFP®, RLP®, founder of Knight Investment Planning, and Robbie Schoonmaker, RLP®, founder of Matterhorn Financial Planning. Each shared how the Kinder EVOKE® process has become more than an onboarding tool — it is now the connective tissue of their client relationships and, for many, the very reason they built the practices they lead today.
The panel opened in direct conversation with a keynote given earlier that morning by Christine Benz of Morningstar, drawn from her new book on the art and science of retirement. Benz named a tension every life planner recognizes: the pull between preserving wealth safely, optimizing withdrawals efficiently, and — the quieter, harder work — allocating wealth toward meaning so that life is actually lived. The panel picked up precisely where her keynote left off.
Over the course of the session, the four panelists explored:
- How each has integrated life planning into ongoing client work, not merely as an intake exercise but as a durable rhythm across the client’s financial life.
- Honest reflections on billing, boundaries, and business design — the practical decisions that make depth-based advising sustainable.
- Client stories that illustrated the shift from “Am I going to be okay?” to “Am I actually living the life I want?” — from young families choosing to downsize in order to travel together, to retirees discovering they had permission to spend, give, and rest.
Fang also led the audience in a short experiential exercise, “The Power of Feeling Heard,” inviting each attendee to turn to a neighbor and answer a single question — What does success feel like to you? — while the questioner focused on listening and empathizing with their neighbor’s response. The audience experienced a small window into the profound value of non-judgmental, empathic listening that life planners are trained to deliver to their clients, which creates the space to express and move into their lives of greatest meaning.
The panelists demonstrated that a true fiduciary protects a client’s life, in addition to their money.