These folks work with the many. They do denominators. The objects of their thoughts are faceless. They do not bleed.
Not so with financial planning. With financial planning, it is all about the individual. It is all about the client, the one to whom we owe a fiduciary duty. We know it is different when the unemployment statistic is you.
I was searching for a speech title recently when serendipity struck: "One to the Power of One." I am not quite sure of its origins, but it stuck in my head and I played with it for a while. It is probably not original to me, though Google does not shed any light upon the apparent redundancy. Certainly, "The Power of One" has been used in both song and story. Then I realized that this might be the missing key for the development of financial planning theory. More powerfully, this might be especially true when it comes to money issues, per se. As a society and culture, we spend so much time and energy with the broad strokes of money that we miss an essence-that essence of "one." The way we come.
In contrast, financial planning captures that essence. The advisor-one-and the client-one-combine in a uniquely powerful and singular relationship-one-constituting an indivisible numerator-the essence of "one to the power of one."
"One." It does not act like other numbers. For most living beings, one is indivisible. For objects, if you cut one in two, it simply becomes two ones. One divided by one is one. One to the power of one is one. One is whole and complete unto itself. One is special. No other number is like one.
One is the power number. It compels companies and athletic teams to strive to become it in their field of endeavor. The cry, "We're number one!" rallies teams throughout the land.
"One" is important historically and spiritually. Notions of monotheism and the "One True God" generated tectonic shifts in humanity's relationships with both the divine and with each other. More importantly, religion affirms the infinite value of each one of us. Romantics search for "the one" who will complete them as their "one true love." Then they will frequently describe the consequent relationship in terms of being "as one" with each other.
Most important, for our purposes, "one" is the essence of both the financial planning relationship and the financial planning profession. "One" is what makes us different from all those others. We work with numerators, one at a time. This reality imbues us with a unique perspective.
When bad news happens in our world, a very particular someone gets hurt. It is not just data when that very particular someone has a name. Moreover, that very particular someone generally has other particular someones they love, to whom they are accountable or for whom they have responsibilities. When that particular someone is a client, he has placed his trust and confidence in us. He has relied on us in that very special way.
When we accept a client's trust, confidence and reliance, we have a singular relationship that is utterly unique. Every such fiduciary relationship is unlike any other relationship that has ever been. Ever. Such relationships are the essence of one to the power of one.