Episodes

When financial advisors work with couples, it’s more than just navigating their finances. It means navigating an emotional and complex relationship dynamic. It’s not just a matter of aligning the numbers. It’s a matter of aligning two completely different belief systems. When you combine two different upbringings and two different sets of belief systems around money, naturally tension arises. Ed Coambs combines a background in financial therapy and financial planning to offer advisors some criti...

When was the last time you thought about: What your office or Zoom background is “signaling” to prospective clients? What minor detail or design on your website could drastically improve conversions? How to package your services in a way that feels less overwhelming and provides clarity around exactly what the client receives? What things could be causing your clients to perceive your services as expensive rather than a bargain? Rory Sutherland, author of Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Scie...

Imagine guiding your clients through a process of discovering what a meaningful, fulfilled life would look like and then providing them with the financial strategies to fuel that vision. You help your clients clarify and fund their best life. That is life planning. But, what does life planning actually look like in practice? When do I have these heartfelt conversations? What do these conversations sound like? Fortunately, Scott Frank is the founder of Stone Steps Financial, has been through the ...

Imagine going into a meeting with a complete picture of your client’s money mindset. You know exactly how they like to communicate about money, that they have a tendency to “keep up with the Joneses”, and that they are likely to panic when the market plummets. Armed with that information, you would know exactly which behaviors to focus on changing to improve their financial outcomes. But, that kind of information is not readily apparent and difficult to uncover. Which is why behavioral assessmen...

After five years of frustratingly inconsistent prospecting meetings, Dan Solin decided there had to be a better way. So, he spent a year researching and learning everything he could about the neuroscience and psychology of what it took to seamlessly convert a prospect into a client. From that, he built an evidence-based process that flipped everything he knew on its head. And, in his first year prospecting with this new approach, he brought in $100 million under management (no, that’s not a typo...

Most financial advisors conduct some version of goals-based planning. If you’re helping a client use their money to accomplish a goal, then you’re doing goals-based planning. But goals are formed and shaped by values. Yet, “goals-based planning” is an industry buzzword, and “values-based planning” is more like a foreign language. Natalie Taylor CFP®, BFA™ has built her practice around “Values-Based Financial Advice That Works In Real Life” and joined the show to explain why her values-based appr...

There are at least three things every financial advisor wants in their relationships with clients: 1) Great conversations and connection 2) Use their money to live a fulfilled life doing the things they love 3) Seamless buy-in and follow-through on the advice given to avoid spending time following up Amy Mullen is the President of Money Quotient, a company that arms advisors with tools, resources, and a process to consistently deliver on all three of these things. In Part II of our conversation,...

There are at least three things every financial advisor wants in their relationships with clients: 1) Great conversations and connection 2) Use their money to live a fulfilled life doing the things they love 3) Seamless buy-in and follow-through on the advice given to avoid spending time following up Amy Mullen is the President of Money Quotient, a company that arms advisors with tools, resources, and a process to consistently deliver on all three of these things: great co In Part I of our conve...

Financial success relies just as much on knowing yourself as it does knowing what to do with money. After spending the majority of her career teaching people what to do with their money, Rachel Cruze realized that knowing what to do wasn’t enough. That the gap between knowing and doing is forged by how we think, feel, and behave with money (our mindset and motivations). And it’s these mindsets and motivations that drive most of our financial decision-making. The key to behavior change and financ...

The value of behavioral coaching continues to show up as the top “value-added” service provided by financial advisors. And, while it’s no surprise to advisors that have been working with emotional human beings on an emotionally-charged topic like money, studies also show that over 80% of advisors DON’T actively promote this value to clients or prospective clients. We discuss: Understand what clients think about behavioral coaching Think about whether they should be actively promoting the value ...

If you’re a financial advisor or advisory firm who wants to pursue growth through digital marketing, but you’ve always been unimpressed with the results, you’ve probably skipped the most important part: The human side of digital marketing. Knowing the behavioral and psychological principles to build trust and connection online while intentionally designing for the desired behavior forms the foundation of any successful digital marketing strategy. (Especially in an industry where obtaining a clie...

Every financial advisor knows how crucial it is to effectively build trust and connection with prospects and clients. Study after study and story after story will tell you that’s what clients look for when choosing an advisor and it’s why they stay with their advisors. But, is it even possible to build the same level of trust and connection virtually? Is it reasonable to expect the same level of comprehension and follow-through from the client (or prospective client)? Dr. Sarah Asebedo and her c...

As the value and future of advice continues to shift towards the intersection of technical knowledge and the human side of money, it has coincided with the rise of financial therapy. Financial Therapy is focused on improving how clients think, feel, and behave with money to improve their well-being. Nathan Astle, founder of Relational Money, helps advisors who don’t want to be full-fledged financial therapists develop and hone the most critical skills from financial therapy that lead to better c...

We’ve all been inundated with information showing how behavioral biases impact financial decision making. But far less attention has been given to the fact that these same biases can undermine the identification and prioritization of goals. Research shows that there is indeed a gap between the goals clients think are important to them and the goals that are actually important. And that gap is forged by our biases and mental blind spots. Samantha Lamas and her colleagues at Morningstar have condu...

One of the main challenges for financial advisors when it comes to applying behavioral finance is as simple as this: it’s a lot easier to construct a financial plan than to deconstruct your client’s emotions. Graeme Newell has been helping financial advisors better understand what goes on in their client’s minds by literally putting them in brain scanners for most of his career. And he takes the insights he learns and turns them into practical advice to improve client’s decisions and behavior. T...

Research shows asking great questions builds trust, establishes likability, and uncovers valuable information. Which is why asking great questions forms the foundation of a successful first meeting that converts a prospect into a lifelong client. This episode is meant to be a guide for advisors to hone their question-asking abilities, so they can enhance client outcomes and forever change the trajectory of their business. To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of a...

Ask any financial advisor if behavioral finance plays an important role in delivering ideal outcomes to clients, and you’ll get a resounding “Yes.” Ask those same advisors if they know exactly what to say and do to seamlessly apply behavioral finance, and you’ll get a resounding “No!” Knowing someone is suffering from loss-aversion helps explain why he or she behaved a certain way. But the effective application of behavioral finance tells you what to do about it. That’s where change occurs. Jay ...

For most financial advisors, the idea of work/life balance is nothing more than an illusion. Especially for those who started, survived, and thrived in the profession based on a mindset that success was simply a numbers game. Survival and success relied upon activity. There was a direct correlation between the amount of work you put in and the reward you received. Travis Parry used to live this life. But, now, he’s using his research-backed method to show advisors how to, not only, achieve work/...

Financial planning without any regard for the person’s dreams, values, and life they want to live is nothing more than numbers on paper. A person’s dreams, values, and life they want to live without any regard for money is nothing more than a fantasy. Life planning is simply connecting the client’s dreams and values with the strategies of financial planning that create the life of freedom that person has always envisioned. Here’s what you’ll learn: The two pieces of advice that George gives to ...

There is zero correlation between the size of your bank account and the overall contentment and happiness of your life. If you’ve worked with people and their finances long enough, you’ve seen it time and time again. But, once you can align money with meaning, you have the foundation of a happy, meaningful life. Financial advisors excel at financial strategies but often fall short at helping clients illuminate the ingredients of a meaningful life. Brian Portnoy has spent decades writing, speakin...

The greatest barrier for every client isn’t lack of information. It’s their own mindset and behavior. Whether it’s someone who overspends, someone who under-spends, someone who wants to sell out at the worst possible time, or even the person who never sends in the data you need, the key to changing their behavior starts with understanding their money mindset. Sarah Newcomb, Director of Behavioral Science at Morningstar, joined the show to discuss how to better understand a client’s money mindset...

Adrian Murphy is the CEO of Murphy Wealth, a multi-award winning financial planning firm in the UK. Most recently, his firm made waves throughout the industry with the announcement that they were hiring a Chief Behavioral Officer as a part of their transition to a “human-first” strategy. We discuss: The decision to transition to a “human-first” strategy and what the vision looks like for the firm and for clients The importance of getting clients from a “thinking” place to a “feeling” place and ...

When it comes to changing someone’s behavior, much of the focus goes to persuasion and nudging techniques. In reality, for financial advisors, the primary weapon of influence you have over someone’s behavior is your ability to communicate and connect at the highest level. Dr. Joy Lere is a licensed clinical psychologist and behavioral finance consultant who has spent her entire career learning to communicate and connect with her clients to give them clarity, build trust, and ultimately change th...

Dr. Moira Somers, financial psychologist and author of the best-selling book Advice That Sticks: How to Give Financial Advice People Will Follow, consults with advisors and firms around the world to deliver “stickier” advice that leads to more follow-through and implementation. We discuss: A specific process to use at the end of every meeting to drastically improve follow-through The biggest mistake advisors make when trying to get clients to follow-through (also the most common) A specific pro...