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Let’s Celebrate Carol & Her Legacy


With great honor and mountains of respect, we share the exciting news that Carol Anderson, Money Quotient’s founder, will be retiring at the end of June 2024.

Carol’s life work, which has spanned over three decades, was sparked in the late 80s by her discovery of research indicating the vast ineffectiveness of financial literacy programs in positively impacting individuals’ financial behaviors and well-being.

Starting with her master’s thesis project in 1991, Carol has broken ground in the financial industry by studying both the emotional and practical factors involved in individuals’ relationships with money and decision-making behaviors. After receiving her master’s degree, she continued to pursue her curiosity and newfound love for research, establishing Carol A Anderson Research. As an independent researcher and writer, she partnered with various for-profit and non-profit organizations to conduct studies and develop educational programs and workshops designed to deeply engage its students and build motivation to make lasting positive change in their financial lives.

With a growing library of resources she had developed, Carol founded Money Quotient in 2001 and soon after began teaching financial professionals how to understand their clients and their financial well-being through a multidisciplinary lens.

In an effort to continue her research, she established a non-profit 501(c)3 in 2003 and began developing relationships with universities across the country.  Two notable studies she led have made a profound impact on the financial industry and are regularly referenced are “Communication Issues in Life Planning: Defining Key Factors in Developing Successful Planner-Client Relationships,” published in 2007, and “Developing and Maintaining Client Relationships in a Rapidly Changing Environment” published in 2021.

If you’ve personally experienced the power of the True Wealth Planning model and the Money Quotient tools Carol has developed or have witnessed its impact on your clients’ lives, then you’re lucky to be part of a community that understands the importance of Carol’s work in the evolution of financial planning, coaching, counseling, and education.

We hope you’ll come celebrate Carol’s retirement and the legacy of her life’s work with us at our MQ Gathering and Celebration Dinner near Nashville, TN from October 28-30, 2024.

A Warm Welcome to our FTWP Grads!

Congratulations to the new graduates from our most recent Fundamentals of True Wealth™ Planning training! We’re excited to welcome many of them into the MQ Community, and to support them as they continue to embrace Money Quotient’s unique model of life-centered financial planning.

Money Quotient would also like to thank Jennifer Luzzatto, CFA, CFP®, AIF®, MBA and Christina Kramlich, CFP® for completing the course again, and for imparting their wisdom as Veteran MQ Partners!

New Retirement Planning Tools!

We’re excited to announce the addition to two new retirement planning tools available to all MQ Partnership levels. The Wheel of Retirement and the Visualize My Retirement can be found in the “Common Situations – Ongoing Clients” section of our MQ Materials Directory under “Retirement Planning.”

It is common for clients to have a vague idea of some of the activities and endeavors they would enjoy in retirement, but most have not had the opportunity to think deeply about this transition. You can provide immense value to your client by offering a structure that will guide their thought process to developing a vision of an ideal retirement that will bring a sense of fulfillment. Look to the newly updated Issue Driven Implementation Guide and Chart for our suggestions on how to best structure these conversations with your client.

The Latest Financial Behavior Keynote Group Speaker … Amy Mullen!

MQ President, Amy Mullen, was invited to join the prestigious Financial Behavior Keynote Group! She is joining some of the finest speakers providing research and evidence-based presentations focused on individual relationships with money, including: Carl Richards, Kristy Archuleta,  Michael G. Thomas, and others! Check out Amy’s Speaker Profile to review her various presentations and inquire about having her speak at your regional meetings.

  • Bringing Science to the Art of Relationship
  • Linking Life Planning & Cash Flow Management: Your Most Important Client Conversations
  • Belief Systems that Limit the Potential of Your Client Relationships
  • Become a Superhuman Financial Planner: Strengthen Your ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception) by Taking a Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Financial Planning
  • Developing and Maintaining Client Trust and Commitment in a Rapidly Changing Environment
  • Financial Planning in Times of Uncertainty
  • Self-Determination Theory: Leveraging Your Clients’ Innate Desire for Growth

Nice work! Congrats Amy!

Conversing with Carl…Richards!

Last month, Carl Richards hosted Amy Mullen on his Worldwide Chapter Meeting for The Society of Advice membership for a conversation about Redefining the role of a Real Financial Planner. Carl mentions that he doesn’t “often have financial industry professionals and experts in our field as guests,” but he made the exception for Amy because he enjoys her tendency to challenge assumptions and provoke new ways of thinking.

“Most often, you’re exceeding [the client’s] expectations when you’re able to facilitate [life planning] conversations they weren’t expecting. But it’s interesting that, as humans, we fear the pushback because it’s going to be different, rather than being excited to show them how we are going to exceed their expectations.”

Carl accepted Amy’s invitation to join her on a webinar with the MQ Community to continue their chat.  Join them on December 6th at 10am PT, for A Conversation with Carl Richards.

Our October Fundamentals Cohort!

We are excited to be currently hosting our October cohort of Fundamentals of True Wealth™ Planning! A special congratulations to the Ken Gillaspie Legacy Fund scholarship recipients, Marian Nguyen and  Rosario Chacón, CFP®, FBS®, EA, CSLP®, CDFA®. We’re excited to support them as they continue to embrace Money Quotient’s unique model of life-centered financial planning.

Money Quotient would also like to thank Adrienne Ross, CFP®, ChFC®, AFC® for completing the course again, and for imparting her wisdom and sharing her valuable expertise as our Veteran MQ Partner!

Client Satisfaction: New Research from MQRE!

MQ Research & Education™ faculty members Meghaan Lurtz, PhD, FBS™ and Deanna Sharpe PhD, CFP®, CRPC®, CRPS recently conducted a study titled “Factors Related to Client Satisfaction and Adherence in a Financial Planning Relationship.”  This project will be featured at the upcoming 2023 Financial Therapy Association conference in Charlotte, NC October 5-7, 2023.

Medical research has used the goal-task-bond (GTB) framework to evaluate effect of alliance on patient satisfaction and adherence. This study applies the GTB framework to empirically evaluate the effect of alliance on client satisfaction and adherence in a financial planning context. Preliminary results indicate the goal, task, and bond constructs do matter in the development of relationship satisfaction and plan adherence. Conclusions address how financial planning practitioners may assess and improve goal, task, and bond alliance in their financial planning client relationships.

New Plans for MQ Gathering!

Our original plan to connect the MQ Gathering with the SHIFT Conference in the spring of 2024 fell victim to logistical issues. Rest assured, we have pivoted and are already fast at work planning our event in late Fall 2024!

Although our main annual conference will continue to be named the “MQ Gathering,” we’ve also decided to combine the best parts of the MQ Retreat and MQ Gathering. You can expect to hear about some of the latest research from MQ Research & Education and some of our favorite academics while also engaging with like-minded professionals in fun and interesting learning activities and group discussions.

Dates and location for the MQ Gathering will be announced soon! Also, be sure to register for this 2024 event before the end of 2023 to take advantage of the Early Early Bird Rate.

Ken Gillaspie Legacy Fund Scholarship Recipients

With great enthusiasm, Money Quotient and MQ Research & Education proudly announce this year’s Ken Gillaspie Legacy Fund scholarship recipients!
Rosario and Marian will be provided the opportunity to attend our October “Fundamentals of True Wealth™ Planning” training as part of their award. We look forward to their participation!

Integrate Ignition!

We are officially onboarded with a new billing platform, Ignition, and we are excited to roll it out to all of our Money Quotient Partners! Using Ignition offers everyone top notch security, a more streamlined process, and automated payments. Simplifying these processes benefits us both, providing more time to focus on what’s most important, serving our communities and clients.

On this new platform you can add payment info securely, change payment anytime, get receipts automatically, and everything will be billed according to your existing billing schedule.

Thank you to those who have already updated their payment info. If you haven’t gotten to it yet,  make sure to check your inbox for the requested update! If you aren’t seeing an email, reach out to us.