In this episode, Carl shares a pattern he’s seen hundreds of times: people who’ve “won the game” financially, yet quietly ask, "Is this all there is?" He uses these conversations to explain a core idea in real financial planning. Clients rarely come in asking for meaning or alignment. They arrive with a presenting problem about money. But beneath that surface request is a desired future state they often don’t yet have language for. Carl argues that the real work isn’t dismissing the money question, but meeting it with empathy and using it as an entry point to something deeper. This episode explores the gap between solving financial problems and helping people uncover the life they were actually hoping those solutions would lead to.

Want more from Carl? Get the shortest, most impactful weekly email on the web! Sign up for the Weekly Letter from Certified Financial Planner™ and New York Times columnist Carl Richards here: https://behaviorgap.com/