In our work with financial planners, we frequently point out that a successful practice is built on getting to know and understand their clients. We also emphasize that this objective can only be met through exploring each client’s unique frame of reference. This is so important in client relationship development because each person’s “frames” shape […]
Blog
Guiding Clients Through Life’s Challenges
As financial advisors, we often experience the privilege of being among the first to be called when a spouse passes, when a child enters rehab, or a parent moves into memory care. In these difficult life transitions, how are you showing up? Do you jump to the quantitative solution, or do you hold space for […]
What is True Client-Centered Discovery?
At Money Quotient, we believe that the most successful client relationships are built on asking the right questions. That’s because good communication is so much more about listening than it is about talking. And, to this end, the best financial planners continually seek to perfect their inquiry skills. Several years ago, I read an interview […]
How Financial Planners Can Support Behavior Change
In his article “Why Good Financial Behavior Isn’t Achievable Until You Believe That It Is,” Derek Tharp addresses the frustration that financial planners experience when trying to help clients adopt healthier financial habits. He explains the root cause of self-sabotaging money beliefs and behaviors in this way: As almost all financial advisors have […]
Help Your Clients Make the Most of Their Regrets
In his latest book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, Dan Pink flips regret on its head. Rather than looking to the emotion as a catalyst for guilt or shame, the book focuses on the best of what regret can do for perspective: provide the opportunity to make smarter decisions. Advisors […]
Assessing the Value of “Functional Quality” in Designing Financial Planning Engagements
In our Money Quotient training programs and research projects, we frequently refer to the groundbreaking work of professors Neeru Sharma and Paul G. Patterson at the University of New South Wales. In the late 1990s, they conducted a study that identified communication effectiveness as the single most powerful determinant of a client’s perception of service […]
Elicit, Provide, Elicit: The Art of Skillful Advice-Giving
Advice is inherent to financial planning. Heck, it’s in your title: advisor. But how you give advice can make or break the client/advisor relationship and directly impact the follow-through. The Righting Reflex The righting reflex is our natural reaction to hearing someone else’s problem. This is the powerful urge to provide our own opinions, solutions, […]
Nurturing Financial Resilience
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated to us once again that economic uncertainties are ubiquitous and often hard to predict. We need to stay vigilant and be prepared for the rainy days. -Standard Center for Longevity To launch the “Financial Resilience in America” project, researchers at the Stanford Center on Longevity teamed up […]
The Pandemic has Changed Perceptions of Wealth & Well-Being
At Money Quotient, we frequently point out that a successful financial planning practice is built on getting to know and understand your clients. We also emphasize that this objective can only be met through exploring each client’s unique “frame of reference.” There are many other terms for this concept—such as perspective, world view, and mode […]
MQ Recommended Reading
A growth mindset seems to be at the heart of shared purpose relationships with our MQ Partners. Those who are consistently seeking ways to improve and expand how they interact with the profession and world resonate with us. Whether it’s our training, educational webinars, or annual events, we reference and quote several pieces of literature […]