Planning requires a significant focus on money and clients expect you to demonstrate your financial expertise. But they also want to find financial purpose and peace-of-mind. That makes their well-being a critical variable. On this Elementality, Reese and Carl discuss why clients are also looking for guidance about issues that financial calculations can’t solve.

Identifying the jobs that need to be done is the first step in delivering a service that prospective clients want. Just remember, for every client there are functional and emotional jobs which are interwoven together. On this Elementality, Reese and Carl explain why proving your value hinges on giving thoughtful attention to a client’s emotional needs.

Beyond having an emergency fund, are there other advantages to having adequate liquidity? And what criteria is used to define liquid cash? On this episode of Elementality, Reese explains to the clients of his RIA why understanding their Liquid Term (Lt) helps them resolve immediate cash needs and allows them to make more rational financial decisions.

At that moment of epiphany, when you’ve inspired a client to make their best financial decision, that’s when you know you’re succeeding as an advisor. So how do you create conversations where real financial planning happens? On this Elementality, Reese and Carl look at how the Elements scorecard provides advisors a framework for deeper planning discussions. 

Your clients want to collaborate with you. And why not? They feel empowered as they get to know their financial data better, and best of all, it reduces your onboarding work. They just need to know which jobs to do. On this Elementality, Reese and Carl look at how using the client as co-pilot allows them to feel like the hero of their financial journey.

The financial-plan-in-a-binder doesn't help clients change their behavior. Real change only happens when a client can get their values, purpose, and finances to align. Your role in connecting those together is pivotal. On this Elementality, Reese and Carl look at how to help clients better understand the relationship between values, money, and happiness.

The danger of making financial projections for the future is that clients then tend to live for the future, which creates anxiety and doubt. On this Elementality, Reese and Carl look at why too much emphasis on forecasting can fail to create the desired result—and how Elements calms client worries by getting them more focused on what they can control today.

Uncovering client money worries by asking the right objective questions is never easy. It’s why many advisors rely on fpPathfinder's checklists and flowcharts to help ensure planning opportunities are never missed. On this Elementality, Abby talks with Mike Lecours, co-founder of fpPathfinder, about how diligent advisors build long-term client trust.

Money is never simple. It’s tied to complex emotions. It can lead to power, bring happiness or headaches. And unfortunately, our past experiences with money shape our current attitudes and anxieties about finances. On this Elementality, Carl and David Hunter talk about why advisors need to help clients find financial purpose when it comes to their money.

While you may prefer to focus on numbers, how a client’s finances look on a spreadsheet and their story as it relates to money rarely line up.  On this Elementality, Carl and Dan Rooker, of Rook Financial, discuss why you need to first understand what causes a client anxiety about their money before offering them solutions that can help them move forward.