One participant expressed my own thoughts when I first learned of Kinder's seminars. He said: "George, people say you're nutty." He wanted to know if Kinder had taken part in est and Silva Mind Control, movements in the 1970s that were that decade's idea of self help but seemed to involve the participant giving over control of his own mind to the workshop leader and relishing the freedom of having someone else make his decisions. If you don't have to worry about controlling your mind, this thinking goes, you have less to worry about. Kinder knew of both movements. I don't think he saw them as similar to his work and neither do I. Kinder's work has no agenda of serving a sales model. Instead, he helps advisors-and their clients-dig in to find the issues that are holding them back from realizing life dreams.
One of the most impressive parts of Kinder's presentation was the focus on integrity, honesty and personal freedom. Like all of you, I hear a lot of contemporary philosophies such as: "It's all about me." There's even a book you can purchase with the title: All About Me. You just fill in the blanks. The "Me" philosophy suggests that life is unfair because everyone is getting ahead of "me," even though I am more worthy and so I'm going to focus on getting everything I can for myself. I'll sue anyone I need to in order to get more because I'm entitled to it.
Kinder will have none of this. He calls on us to act with integrity, from a place of wholeness and clarity, in regard to personal values. He urges us to "identify and face the places where you lack integrity regarding money and clean them up." Whether we believe money is fair at its base or unfair at its base, Kinder says, if we cling to one side and see all of life through that lens, we are trapped, excluded from adulthood and unable to achieve all we could in life.
He talks about the patterns of "resent, blame and complain," which are more familiar to most of us than clarity and integrity around money. If you've ever had a client who can't move off the idea that Dad didn't leave him enough money and life is unfair, you know what a hopeless stumbling block this can be. Rather than urging us to get ours, whatever the cost, Kinder urges us to seek personal freedom and integrity and urge clients to do the same.
I've been writing about financial planning for more than 20 years. Ten years ago, I wrote a book for Bloomberg Press called Best Practices for Financial Advisors. When I started the book, I respected financial advisors but I wasn't certain they could do anything for a client that he couldn't do on his own if he were diligent. When I finished the book, I was convinced that everyone could have a better life with the help of a good financial planner. Not because the planner could deliver double-digit portfolio returns, but because the advisor could bring a fresh eye to the client's financial picture and identify what is missing.
Kinder's workshop takes that thinking full circle by providing a structure to help planners identify what it is a client most desires in his life, what he feels most passionate about and then organizing a financial plan to help achieve that goal. I believe that this is the best answer yet to client-centered financial planning. Not every planner should do this. Not all planners can, partly because they have not gone on this path themselves. But it seems this is the most satisfying answer we have to financial planning-to helping another person marshal his money to accomplish what he would from life.
Full disclosure: Journalists are allowed to attend the $995 workshop free, as long as they participate in the entire program and do not quote any material without asking permission.
I had the additional benefit of staying at the home of Marjorie A. Burnett, a CPA and lawyer who has been through all of the Kinder workshops to earn the certification of Registered Life Planner, or RLP. She was a great host and allowed me to continue my own life planning over dinner. For me, it was a fabulous learning experience.