Okay, I might be ruffling some feathers with this episode of Everyday Money with Hannah Moore, so get ready! I want to talk about some things financial planners do that drive me crazy.
I’m a big believer in continued learning. No matter how much someone knows, there’s always room for them to learn more (myself included!) So, what are some things financial planners might say that indicates they’ve probably got a bit more learning to do?
1) “My clients just don’t get it”
I’ve heard this more times than I can count. And every time I hear it, I want to point out that the problem isn’t the clients… it’s the planner!
People are coming to financial planners because they KNOW they need help and don’t quite get it. Our clients don’t think in the same way that we do — they don’t think in numbers, spreadsheets, and money.
So when a financial planner explains something and the client doesn’t get it… it’s the planner’s job to make sure they do! If you ever find yourself talking to a planner and thinking, “I don’t understand what’s going on here,” don’t worry. The planner should be making sure you do!
2) “Let’s stick to the financial plan we’ve set”
We all know that life changes constantly. When I think of where I was 5 years ago, so many things have changed. Babies, career, desires, goals… you name it. As financial planners, we can’t expect our clients stay stagnant!
Financial plans are going to change rapidly, and they’ll change over time. And when a financial planner doesn’t account for this change, it can be a problem!
It’s our responsibility to be flexible and open to changes happening in our clients’ lives, and PLAN for those changes!
3) “We should wait until we know”
Humans crave certainty, and financial planners are no exception to that. In fact, we might even crave certainty more than most! We want to know what the market’s going to do, how much we should save… all these finite numbers that set us up for the future.
But the thing is, there’s only one guarantee when it comes to the future, and that’s the guarantee that things WILL change. When I look at some of the plans I created with my clients years ago, the majority of them didn’t work out.
Not because of anything that my client did, but simply because the future changes. A financial planner’s job is to be future-thinking and setting clients up for success among the change, instead of in spite of it.
4) “There’s no need to get emotional”
Here’s the thing: talking about money can be really emotional. I consider it part of my responsibility to hold space for those emotions when my clients feel them.
And sometimes, that emotion comes out as tears. But guess what? That’s OKAY!
So often when I’m talking to other financial planners, they have this aversion to clients that cry. They don’t want to talk about the emotions, and what to just talk about the numbers.
But personal finance is about so much more than numbers. It’s about family, love, values, legacy.
And the emotions attached to those things will 100% drive financial decisions, whether you acknowledge it or not. When financial planners are able to ask the right questions and examine those factors as well as look at the numbers, that’s when they’re able to truly take care of a client’s holistic financial situation and set them up for success.
5) “I only offer investment support/advice”
Let me tell you a story.
Early on in my career, I was still coming into my own and understanding who I was as a financial planner. I remember charging my first ever client for a full financial plan, and I was so nervous! I just wanted to do a great job.
And when I pitched them my plan, they stopped, looked at me, and told me that my plan was exactly what they’d been looking for in a financial plan, but they’d never been able to describe it before.
For the last 4 years that I’d been working with this client, we’d just been looking at their investments. But it wasn’t until I shifted the focus to examine HOW those investments lined up with their actual life that they felt like I truly understood them and their needs.
See, a financial advisor is someone who only looks at the investments. But a financial planner is someone that helps look at whether your money will empower you to do the things you want with your life.
Figuring out how to make money fit with someone’s life is such a powerful conversation… and that’s what I’m in the business of!
So those are the 5 major things that I’ve heard from other financial planners that drive me absolutely crazy! I’d love to hear from you… what are some things you might have heard from financial planners in the past that drove you crazy? Let me know in the comments!
Are you in the market for a financial planner and think we might be a good fit? I’d love to hear from you! You can explore my financial planning services here!