The Best Part Of Our Business

This is a great business! You can earn all the money you need to fund your ideal life, you have time freedom and you help people.

While all three matter, this article is dedicated to the best part of our business: helping people. I know we’re not the Red Cross or the United Way or some other pure charity. But we’re also not Coke and Pepsi fighting for sugared-water market share, McDonald’s trying to sell another billion crappy hamburger or some video game company using compulsion loops to addict you to their game, regardless of the adverse impact on your health, happiness and success.

Helping people make smart choices about their money in alignment with their most important goals and most deeply held values matters.
I asked a few FAs to share some of their fondest memories about doing what they do. I’m sure you have a few of your own.

Protecting The Children From Stress
Ted and Kate G.; Huntington Beach, Calif., wrote:
Many of our clients have a sticker inside of their wallet or purse that says, “If anything happens to me, please call Ted or Kate at this 800 number.” One day a paramedic called me and said, “We don’t know why we’re calling you, but we have a patient with this sticker in her purse. Who are you?” I said, “We’re this person’s financial advisor.” They said, “Well, she just had a major cardiac arrest. We’re transporting her to Hoag Hospital. Apparently, you need to know.”

I thanked them and immediately called her daughter. She was about to board a plane for a two-week wilderness trip in Maine. Fortunately, she was able to switch airlines and fly to Huntington Beach. When she arrived, I asked, “You don’t happen to have your mom’s health-care power of attorney, do you?” She replied, “Oh no, I don’t even know where those documents are.”

We accessed her mom’s electronic vault, printed out the POA, and went to Hoag Hospital. We arrived at her mother’s room, where she was sedated, and the charge nurse asked, “Do either of you have a health-care power of attorney?” Our client’s daughter said, “Yes, I do,” and she handed him the POA. Right before our eyes, they called the orderly and moved her mother up four levels of care. That’s what happens when health-care professionals know they are working with family members who have their act together.

Confidence That Somebody Cares
James H. of Prescott, Ariz., writes:
I got a frantic call at 4:30 this morning from a 93-year-old Ideal Client. She was having shortness of breath, dizziness and couldn’t walk. She didn’t call 911. She didn’t call her daughter, who lives nearby. She called her Trusted Advisor. (Of course, I did all that as soon as we hung up.) As I sit in the ER, I’ve never felt such a deep connection with a client as I do today.

The Life Truly Desired
David J. in Minneapolis, wrote:
I have worked with Mark, a pathologist, for 16 years. His financial house was in good order and, as a result, he was content. One day, we completed a Financial Road Map interview in which he, for the first time, expressed his deep desire to leave his high stress job and retire. He dreamed of not working in the pressure cooker that was his pathology position at the hospital and devoting more time to his charitable endeavors and his love for music. He stated unequivocally, “There is no way I could actually do this as I am only 47!” Our team worked out the details of precisely what he needed to do to leave his job and retire fully, with no additional earned income. We established, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he could do it and laid out a specific plan to ensure he never has to re-enter the workforce again.

I asked him recently if he had any apprehension about leaving his medical job. His response was, “I am counting down the minutes to July 1st.” On July 1st, 2015, Mark will fully retire from his medical job at age 48 and start living a life that is, in his words, “true to who I am.”