Life-Centered Financial Planning Essentials: How Much is “Enough”?
What’s the ultimate aim of a financial planner, specifically one who is practicing life-centered financial planning? Contrary to what the industry would have everyone believe, it’s not to beat the market—it’s to help clients get and keep the life they want. Life-centered financial planners are tasked with helping their clients identify, achieve, and maintain their desired lifestyle without ever running out of money, or dying with too much.
Life-centered financial planners help clients understand the answer to the big question: “How much is enough?” How much do those clients really need for the rest of their lives?
But wait, there’s more—the bigger question is, “Enough for what?”
And that’s what life-centered financial planning is all about: understanding clients’ lives and what they want to achieve.
“What’s the money for in the first place?” This is the one dynamic question driving “enough.”
The fact is, it’s different for each of us. Only you know the cost of your lifestyle. But you also need to know about the cost of your client’s lifestyle! Remember, though, this is different than simply creating a budget. And let’s face it: budgets aren’t fun. A budget is where you spend the same money this month as you did last month. Understandably, that’s a conversation no one is overly excited to engage in. Budgets may be important, but they sure aren’t inspiring.
At least some of your clients might already have the life they really want. So why grind harder or longer than they really need to? Life is simply too short for that.
Clients often lose sight of the big picture in the hustle and bustle of daily life—we all do! We can get so bogged down grinding through meaningless activities that we don’t have time to think about what we really want to do with the time we have left. When we deliver life-centered financial planning, we can help our clients use their money to make a life instead of using their lives to make money.
Life-centered financial planners understand that money isn’t the most precious commodity of our existence…time is.
Learn more in Life Centered Financial Planning: How to Deliver Value that Will Never be Undervalued, available at local or online bookstores as well as at mitchanthony.com.
