Trust outlasts spreadsheets.

By Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™

For CPA Trendlines

Like CPAs, financial planners have long been associated with numbers people. They’re highly trained to use mathematics to address a client’s risk tolerance, goals, time horizons, and a magic “retirement number.” But George Kinder, founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, argues that most practitioners are overlooking the most obvious skill needed to be a successful advisor: listening. 

“Too many advisors take the math-first approach,” Kinder says. “Instead, they should be doing deep listening and building trust with clients to help them construct their ideal life. Only when that’s established should the math and money decisions be introduced."  

Often called the “father of financial life planning,” Kinder is no touchy-feely guru. He began his career as a traditional tax preparer in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Harvard-trained math and economics student viewed the IRS code as a puzzle to master—one that required both precision and creativity. Over time, he realized that the most rewarding part of the work wasn’t solving the tax code but forming personal connections with clients. 

“When a client comes in, they typically think their biggest obstacle is money,” Kinder relates. “But in many cases, they’re their own biggest obstacle.” 

Kinder believes practitioners can uncover a client’s true priorities with three simple but powerful questions.