Tanya Nichols, CFP, owner of Align Financial and I chat about why clients hire us.

How you approach business spending will define your growth.

In this episode, we'll chat about how to move the needle on projects critical to your success as an advisor.

Our job as financial planners is to help our clients define their A-Z and then get them there fast and efficiently. 

How to create Elegant Simplicity

Roger Whitney chats with Michael Lecours, co-founder of fpPathfinder about the importance of checklists and decisions trees in financial planning. www.fppathfinder.com

Connect with Roger on Twitter @roger_whitney

I’ve been in this business for 28 years and I’ve been through some crazy markets. We all know the markets go up and down, but sometimes when they are down it can be hard to see the forest for the trees. On this episode, I noodle on what I have discovered from my experience from these types of seasons and I offer you some do’s and don’ts to help get you and your clients through this challenge. Join me and we’ll see if we can see the good in these crazy times. 

• [2:22] These are the best of times and the worst of times
• [3:26] A bear market is like a forest fire
• [9:05] How do you get through this with clients and your business? 
• [26:00] Here’s what not to do

But when you’re down you’re down. For the past 10 years, the markets have been up. That’s been a heck of a run. But the good times can make it hard to really visualize the challenging times. This rocky road is where you can make great strides in your thinking and in your practice. These outside forces will force you to regroup, become more disciplined, and grow as an advisor. Just like working out with a personal trainer, bear markets bring on a good sweat. 

A bear market is a very natural, organic thing just like a forest fire. Strong, healthy trees grow when conditions are right. But those same optimal growing conditions also lead to undergrowth and bushes. After several years in these conditions, the forest becomes overgrown. Over time, the forest begins to suffer. Even the most robust trees can fall ill due to all the competition for resources. Without proper management, conditions become ripe for a forest fire. 

The forest fire comes and clears out excess growth. It weeds out the weaker players and redistributes the resources of the forest. Only the strongest survive. Although it is painful, it is a healthy, necessary part of the ecology. A bear market is the same. It efficiently helps reallocate resources to the most sustainable businesses and decreases competition. The longer we go without forest fires the more damaging they can be. The same goes for market corrections. 

Tumultuous markets can be scary for you and your clients. But it’s your job to help guide your clients through this challenge. Here are some tips for what you can do to help them and you through:

• Do take care of yourself first - do the things that bring joy to your life.
• Do get yourself mentally fit - you’re going to need to bring your A-game to help your clients 
• Do show them where you add value - this is your time to shine. 
• Do compartmentalize - a work-life balance is so important right now. 
• Do present strength to your clients - but don’t be overconfident
• Do reach out to your clients personally - show them you care about each one of them individually
• Do listen - your clients are scared right now, they need someone to listen to their fears
• Do ask yourself - what does this make possible?

• Don’t focus on facts and figures - this is an emotional time for your clients
• Don’t predict - realize what you don’t know. 
• Don’t hide - communicate with each client personally. Don’t hide behind mass communication and technology. 
• Don’t overthink things. 
• Don’t do the coulda woulda shoulda
• Don’t try to solve anything
• Don’t take too much ownership - You are not responsible for bad markets and you are not responsible for your clients’ life. 

Hopefully, these tips can help you and your clients make it through this challenge. Listen in to hear my full list of do’s and don’ts. 

• Dan Crosby episode

• www.RogerWhitney.com
• Roger @ FinancialPlannerFreedom.com 
• Roger on Twitter: @Roger_Whitney

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Have you ever considered what the role of a financial advisor really is? I read a Tweet recently in which a financial advisor said if you aren’t calling your clients when the markets take a downturn you aren’t earning your money. What do you think? Did you call your clients last week to explain what happened in the markets? The Agile Financial Planner is a podcast created to consider how to thrive as financial planners in the 21st century. Listen in to hear what I think our true role is as financial advisors. 

• [0:22] Should you call your clients when the markets are down?
• [6:01] Don’t solely focus on the investment management part of planning
• [8:02] Deliver the WHAM
• [14:39] Teach the clients which levers to pull

Would calling your clients when the markets go up or down help them reach their goals? If you call your clients out of the blue and tell them not to worry, would that ease their woes? What would you really accomplish? If you think about behavioral finance, this is the exact opposite of what you should be doing. Find out how to really help your clients achieve their goals by listening to this episode of The Agile Financial Planner. 

Your clients’ goals don’t have anything to do with the markets. Money is simply a tool to help us achieve our true goals. Instead of calling clients every time the markets move up or down a few percentage points, focus on creating a plan that will help them live the life they really want. As advisors, we need to go beyond the portfolio and help with the little decisions that can make a big impact on creating the life they want to lead.

Instead of focusing on the shifts in markets, I help my clients by focusing on the WHAM. I use this helpful acronym to act as a project manager for my clients. 

• W - Clients always have a ‘wh’ question. What should I do next? What should I be focused on? What opportunities might I be missing? I help them define their questions and reframe them. I am constantly anticipating their ‘wh’ questions so that I can help them achieve their goals. 
• H - How always follows what. After focusing on what then you can focus on how you can help your clients achieve their goals.
• A - Provide assistance and accountability. You are the clients’ project manager. Teach them how to take the steps they need and give them deadlines.
• M - build momentum by achieving a lot of little wins. 

Think about your role as a financial planner. Your focus is not only on the markets and money but on how to help your clients make good choices to ensure they can live the life they really want. Your role goes way beyond portfolios and investment management. Instead, show them the real changes they can make to optimize their choices and teach them how to not get distracted by the small shiny objects that can divert them from their true path. 

• www.RogerWhitney.com
• Roger @ FinancialPlannerFreedom.com 
• Roger on Twitter: @Roger_Whitney

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You’re a highly-skilled financial planner, you’ve worked hard to build your practice, and you’re good at what you do, but do you know how to market yourself? How do you find your ideal clients? One of the biggest problems many financial planners have is marketing themselves to the clients they wish to serve. I’ve invited Brad Johnson, a financial advisor coach, on the show today to help us solve the puzzle of how to attract the people that you serve best. Today you’ll learn how you can stand out from the crowd and find your target market. 

• [3:22] This show helps me flush out my thinking
• [6:30] How important is a personal brand as a financial advisor?
• [10:35] Why is it so important to be able to differentiate yourself?
• [18:00] How are you speaking to clients?
• [22:25] Naming your process will feel weird
• [25:05] How do we become more human on our websites?
• [31:11] Be relatable

Although Brad’s website is BradleyJohnson.com, he actually goes by Brad. Brad is a coach for elite financial planners and the host of the Elite Advisor Blueprint podcast. He consults the top financial advisors on how to build their ideal practice. Since Brad has over 10 years of experience working with financial advisors and improving their practices, I knew he would be an excellent resource for all of you to learn how to market yourself to the clients you wish to serve. 

We know that to be relevant among all of the advisors out there we have to find a way to set ourselves apart from the crowd. But how can we do that when we offer the same services as everyone else? This is when it’s time to dig deep. Before you begin to think of branding you need to think about what you really offer your clients. What services or products do you offer to get clients to their end goals? Think about how you can differentiate what you do and trademark that. 

When you are just starting out as a new financial advisor, life is like the Hunger Games. You’re just out there trying to survive. You’ll serve anyone and everyone. But after you begin to build up a clientele and hone your skills, then you can really think about the clients that you serve best. It’s important to find a niche so that you can serve clients at a higher level.

If you can’t describe to clients how your product will change their lives then you are just a commodity. And the only thing that commodities offer is a good price. Do you really want to be known as the cheapest financial advisor? You can custom build your practice while serving your current clients. Learn how by listening to this episode of the Agile Financial Planner. 

Gone are the days when business cards ruled. Our websites are the first thing that people look at when trying to find the right financial planner. Did you know that people spend more time on the About Us page of a website? They want to know who you really are. If you want to make an impression then you need to put humanity into your About Us section. This is your opportunity to shine. Connect with your people and be relatable. Tell me about your journey in marketing. Has it been a bumpy ride or smooth sailing? 

• Story Brand
• Scribe (Book in a Box)
• Dan Sullivan Strategic Coach
• Tony Robbins
• Gary Vaynerchuk

• Brad Johnson
• Elite Planner Blueprint podcast
• @BradJohnsonAE on Facebook
• @Brad_Johnson on Twitter

• www.RogerWhitney.com
• Roger @ wwkwealth.com 
• Roger on Twitter: @Roger_Whitney

In today’s world, being a good financial planner is not simply about helping clients make smart financial choices, you also need to be able to help them make good life decisions. Being a great financial planner is means more than knowing about asset allocation and financial planning. We need more skills than we have been taught in CFP courses or at our firms. On this episode of The Agile Financial Planner, author, Standard Deviations Podcast host, and behavioral finance expert, Dr. Dan Crosby joins me to discuss how we can help our clients make smart life decisions as well as good financial choices. If you want to be a good financial planner you’re going to need more tools in your toolbox than just the CFP curriculum. Listen to this episode to hear Dr. Dan Crosby’s advice on how to help your clients make better decisions. 

• [1:32] Clients want the whole WHAM
• [4:40] How to help clients make better decisions
• [8:15] How do you give advice to people when you don’t even feel like you have made it yet yourself
• [14:15] It is important to know yourself
• [18:20] People will come up with the right decisions when given the right information
• [22:51] Connection occurs through vulnerability and shared values

If we want to be an integral part of our clients’ lives we need to solidify our value to them. Being a good financial planner means that you’ll have to help your clients not only make smart financial choices but smart life decisions as well. You’re not just there to help them make decisions about asset allocation and retirement goals. You’re there to help them with little everyday decisions, like whether to pay off the mortgage or how to invest that dollar. There is an endless amount of decision making possibilities. All of which deal with issues outside what you have been taught in school or in any corporate training. That’s why you’ll need a framework to help guide you. 

WHAM is an acronym for a feedback loop that benefits clients. It creates momentum, confidence, accountability, and progress. WHAM stands for:

• What am I supposed to do next?
• How am I supposed to do that?
• Accountability assistance to help them execute their actions
• Momentum is created by a lot of small wins

You are your clients’ project manager. You can help them not only set but accomplish their goals, and you can be there to celebrate their wins with them. 

Before you can help clients make better decisions you have to look at yourself. If you are expecting other people to change and telling someone else how to live their life you must first examine your own. We all have our own biases, what are yours? Do you get defensive when you hear feedback? The process of getting to know yourself is messy, nonlinear, and imperfect. Being introspective is challenging but it will help you become a better financial planner. 

If you are a young advisor you may be feeling a bit of imposter syndrome. You feel like an imposter because you are one. You haven’t had time yet to make the money that your clients have made. But that’s okay, it’s okay to be who you are. As long as you are continually trying to better yourself and do the best for your clients then you should feel no shame. 

Challenge yourself by putting yourself in new situations and being around different types of people. You’ll learn more about yourself when you put yourself into uncomfortable situations. Putting yourself around new people will make you aware of different types of mindsets. Dan Crosby has some great advice for learning to up your game as a financial advisor. So listen to this interview to help you continue to grow your practice.

• Annie Duke
• Daniel Kahneman

• BOOK - The Laws of Wealth by Dr. Dan Crosby
• BOOK - The Behavioral Investor by Dr. Dan Crosby
• BOOK - The Personal Benchmark by Dr. Dan Crosby
• PODCAST - Standard Deviations with Dan Crosby
• Dan Crosby on Twitter @DanielCrosby

• www.RogerWhitney.com
• Roger @ FinancialPlannerFreedom.com 
• Roger on Twitter: @Roger_Whitney

Subscribe to The Agile Financial Planner

Click here and choose your preferred app

Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK https://www.podcastfasttrack.com