Richard B. Wagner, one of the genuine original thinkers of the financial planning profession, died earlier this week from injuries suffered after a fall.
In over 30 years, Wagner, George Kinder, Roy Diliberto and a small group of other advisors conceived the financial life planning movement and expanded the frontiers of an emerging profession. During that period, financial life planning was transformed from an esoteric aspect of what advisors did into the mainstream.
An attorney who entered the advisory business seeking a more fulfilling vocation, Wagner was among a handful of financial advisors who bridged the gap between the first generation of idealistic planners and played a major role in its evolution as a true profession. He also became a mentor to many younger advisors seeking to broaden their service offerings and develop more consequential, meaningful client relationships.
Wagner wrote extensively and was a contributor to Financial Advisor starting with its inaugural issue in July 2000. His final contribution will appear in the April issue, which will be published over the weekend.
Just as he left the legal business to find ways to make a more important contribution to individuals' lives, Wagner exited the prominent Denver RIA firm of Sharkey, Howes, Wagner & Javer in 2000 to launch his own firm, Worth Living LLC, to focus on the relationship between people and money.
At that point, Wagner had become convinced that there was much more to life than money. In his view, a client's money existed to serve their goals, aspirations and ideals. While mainstream advisors had long paid lip service to these ideas, their primary focus was to help clients attain financial independence. After individuals achieved asset sufficiency, lots of advisors viewed their work as accomplished.
Wagner, Diliberto and others put serious thought into what motivated clients, what their dreams, hopes, fears and phobias were, and devised innovative ways to address the psychology of money. In that way, people could realize their goals and achieve more meaning and purpose in their lives.
Shortly after entering the business, Wagner became active in the profession and his perspective as an attorney and a student of philosophy quickly thrust him into prominence. In 1993, he became president of the Institute Of Certified Financial Planners. He also served on countless committees and was constantly an originator of ideas about how the profession needed to evolve.
In 2003, the Financial Planning Association awarded Wagner the P. Kemp Fain award, given each year to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession.
He is survived by his wife, Gail, and two adult children.