The Faith Factor in an Advisor's Financial Plan
DEAR ADVISORS,
The CKA designation is short for Certified Kingdom Advisor. It’s the 1st designation I got, and I always felt that this was one of the most valuable designations. It tells clients that I care about more than just their money. I care about their heart, and the values behind their financial plan. We all want to have that kind of relationship with clients, but are we doing this in the financial planning we provide for them? Have we even been able to do it for ourselves first? In celebration of Easter this week, I wanted to share three ways I use my CKA training to help clients prioritize their religion and values when making financial decisions:
Mindset of a Manager or Temporary Trustee - No matter what your religion, one thing we all have in common is that we won’t live forever. It’s difficult to shift my money mindset from “it’s my money” to viewing the money from the perspective of a steward. Not only does it help you be less selfish in how you make financial decisions now, but it also helps you consider who the money really belongs to. I’ve seen that this is especially difficult for financial advisors. One of the reasons we started our advisory firm is to have control over our career and wealth accumulation trajectory. Instead of viewing the business as “mine”, I’m working on seeing how it benefits others. This helps me make intentional decisions around employee benefits and spending money on business expenses to provide the type of client experience that’s part of our long-term goal. These objective goals become something me and my future successor can work on together. Also, I have a Continuity Plan in place with my Continuity Partner in case something were to happen to me unexpectedly. This shift changes all aspects of your life by replacing a mentality of control with a mindset of benefitting others lives. It also provides peace of mind when making decisions that aren’t strictly the “correct decision” from a financial standpoint, because you’re aware of your religious and moral values and how those can positively impact your life and business too. My business and my investment portfolio don’t exist simply to make me rich. They are only under my control for a short period of time. They should allow me to provide for my family, but beyond that, they exist to benefit others. This stewardship mindset doesn’t happen overnight, but it is a healthy goal, and something we review with our financial planning clients every spring.
Family Values - Clients often hire us financial advisors to help them get rich, and then manage that money. However, that money is meaningless and can actually become quite harmful if the people who have access to it don’t have religious and family values as a guide. We create estate documents like Wills and Trusts to manage the money, but what plans are we putting in place to make sure our values are passed down to the next generation? What values do you want to leave as part of your legacy? One of the projects we can work on with clients every spring is making a short list of their family values. Some even go so far as to create a family mission statement, or pick a Bible verse for the year! We then add to our financial planning recommendations how clients want to communicate those values to their family. Last fall I was updating a client’s financial plan and we had a conversation about her succession plan. Ideally, she wants one of her kids to take over the business, but she doesn’t want them to grow up with the expectation that they have a guaranteed job at the company, or that she will gift them the company one day. I shared my similar experience, growing up knowing nothing about my dad’s work as a financial advisor. Even when I worked at my family’s advisory firm after college, my family didn’t want to give me any special treatment and didn’t train me up to take over one day. This eventually caused me to leave and start my own firm. I’ve learned that if you don’t communicate your family values, your kids won’t understand why you made the decisions you did, and they won’t have a moral, ethical compass to guide their feelings and actions.
Giving - If giving isn't already an important part of your plan, it should be! Giving to others always makes you appreciate what you have been given in life. If you find yourself struggling with this concept, ask yourself why you want to hold onto your wealth? If an outsider were to look at how you spend your time and money, what would that say about your values? None of us are perfect, so don't beat yourself up if your heart and money aren't in the right place today. Working with your financial planner helps you become the person you were called to be. Giving of your money, your time, and possibly your services, are all ways to bless others. You may find that when you try to bless others, you end up being the one whose life is changed. Giving is a powerful experience. Not only are we learning to let go, but our eyes are opened to the other people on earth with us. Something so small and meaningless to us, like $20 or a free consultation on budgeting can mean the world to someone else. My husband likes to tell a story about how he and his sisters were arguing about how many presents they were going to get one Christmas, so their parents spent all their Christmas money on buying food and gifts for the homeless. Then they spent all of Christmas day volunteering at the soup kitchen! That idea seems crazy to me, and I wouldn’t want to do that every year, but it symbolizes a large part of my husband’s character which is very others-focused, humble, and giving. This is definitely a value I want to pass on to my kids one day. Brainstorm some ways you can get excited about giving. If you have a family, how can you do this in a way that gets them excited and involved as well? Giving is definitely worth adding in your financial plan!
No matter what your religion, your financial planning experience will be greatly improved when you start with your values first. We provide that service to advisors like you, to help you achieve your goals, change your life, and ultimately secure the future of your family and financial advisory firm!
Warm regards,
Brooklyn
P.S.
At Ellevate Advisors, we believe that advisors deserve to retire too. What does that look like for you, your family, and your business? Let’s figure it out together! Click here to schedule an initial phone call with our team today or get to know me on my bio here!