Articles

The most significant opportunity the financial planning industry has ever seen

At a time when the financial services industry is under the microscope, and with many advisers reviewing their business models, life and financial planning pioneer George Kinder CFP brings a long-awaited breath of fresh air to the UK. 

It is much needed oxygen that’s giving life, energy, enthusiasm and optimism to a forward-thinking group of IFAs and financial planners; planners who have discovered a process which is invigorating their careers and the lives of their clients.

There are many other IFAs who have heard of ‘Life Planning’, but who wonder if it’s a bit ‘American’ or too close to ‘life coaching’ to sit comfortably with them and their clients.  But after observing George Kinder demonstrating a client interview this week at the 2009 Life Planning Conference in London, where he utilised his EVOKE® questioning system, it was immediately apparent that financial planning as we know it is undeniably incomplete without a ‘life plan’.  In fact, my lasting impression is that Kinder’s questioning methodology uncovers a depth of detail about a client which cannot fail to profoundly influence financial planners’ recommendations.  

Harvard-educated George Kinder is gracious, gentle and devastatingly professional.  According to his website, in January 2005 based on a poll of their readership, Financial Planning magazine named Kinder one of the 6 “most influential” financial planners in America; the other 5 planners named had all studied with him.

He is the living embodiment of what he teaches - integrity, reputation and total trust; the critical ingredients in helping clients to not only achieve their financial goals, but their life goals.  One is not possible without the other and financial goals cannot possibly be understood without a detailed analysis of what fundamentally drives a client.  He is the author of three books, including the acclaimed Seven Stages of Money Maturity and Lighting the Torch: the Kinder Method of Life Planning.  To my delight, I also discovered that George is an accomplished photographer and poet in his beautiful work A Song for Hãna.

With dire predictions of the demise of thousands of IFA businesses, right now is the time to be looking at business models in minute detail.  And the good news for many is that George Kinder delivers a structured, proven methodology and process which offers the potential to transform the fortunes of IFAs’ businesses and the lives of their clients, with a process of investigation that creates a deep, insightful and long-lasting relationship between client and adviser. 

How else do financial advisers benefit?

• A more efficient way to do financial planning
• A far greater understanding of clients’ goals and aspirations
• Clients who really buy into the process, plus far greater trust
• Clients who stay for life
• Immediate, high quality referrals
• Higher conversion rates
• A learnable and trainable methodology
• 3-5 times the sale value of commission-based firms
• The potential for much cheaper PI cover
• Excited, energised, motivated clients, advisers and staff

Not only that, but Life Planners report:

• Significantly reduced workload
• Increased income (Life Planners are in the top 2% of earners in the profession)
• Greater profitability per client
• More time for their family
• More time for hobbies, thinking and focus
• More time to develop new income streams from their expertise

For over 30 years, I’ve worked closely with IFAs and financial planners at every level.  I’ve seen a multitude of different business models, but I’m left in no doubt that Life Planners are now leading the profession forward to meet the needs of consumers in today’s world.  And with his far-reaching approach to financial planning, George Kinder brings an unmissable opportunity for the profession to finally be taken very seriously indeed.  A profession that has the highest possible levels of integrity and trust, an image and branding which epitomises professionalism and a service which is accessible to everyone.  I even foresee a time when consumers might even queue up and ask to be ‘life planned’ - and I suspect there will be waiting lists.

Forget ‘too American’ and forget ‘life coaching’.  Kinder’s methodology is about getting closer to your clients through structured questioning which not only uncovers clients’ deepest desires, hopes and fears, but which simultaneously enhances and builds their relationship with the adviser.  Everyone wins. 

IFAs who attend my own workshops know of my passion for IFAs to differentiate their businesses.  And all too often, the key differentiator is themselves (people buy people), and can be promoted to prospects, clients and professional connections through a structured marketing plan.  But now, George Kinder offers financial advisers the opportunity to prove their differentiation by establishing relationships with clients through a mix of professional and advanced relationship and financial skills that are akin to that of a close, unfailing, dependable good friend – someone to whom who you comfortably reveal your innermost passions and life goals.

This all great, but the icing on the cake for me is that every Life Planner I meet strikes me as confident, secure, enthusiastic about their business, energised, stress-free and clearly enjoying new found freedom in their own lives. 

And with their passion for this process comes...fun.  Yes – they’re having fun too. 

Go and breathe in that fresh air.

http://www.ifalife.com/lifeplanning

 

If you are interested in attending George Kinder's next workshop in the UK (22nd/23rd June) and would like further information, please send an email to me at philip@ifalife.com.

Philip Calvert
IFA Life


 

Author: Philip Calvert
Posted: Friday, February 06, 2009 | 8:46:43 AM