What’s Your Client’s Fiscalosophy?

When financial advisors have conversations about investments with their clients, there’s usually something missing—a dialogue in which the advisor can discover a client’s particular perspectives on important money issues.

I’m talking about those issues that will inevitably lead to the flourishing or floundering of any well-intentioned plan. It’s awfully difficult to be on the same page with our clients if there is no process for identifying which page they’re on.

The process I’ve developed is called the “Fiscalosophy Dialogue,” where the conversation merges fiscal discussions with the client’s particular philosophy on foundational financial topics.

Before I go into the particulars, I want to introduce a framework for talking with clients. It has three steps:

1. First, gain permission. It is unfair to blindside clients or prospects with a question they didn’t expect, may not be prepared for or that feels out of context. The first thing to do before introducing a novel dialogue is to let them know what you’re seeking to inquire into and why you feel it is important to the process and relationship. Gaining permission from the clients first raises their awareness level and the degree of engagement in the dialogue itself.

2. Then engage in the dialogue. You can now begin to engage in the conversation.

3. Finally, anchor what you have learned about the client to the process ahead. Begin by saying something to the client like, “Now that I’ve heard your perspectives/story/thoughts on this matter, I would suggest we look at doing the following _____.” This tells the clients that you “hear” them, and that you are taking their views and experiences and making them foundational to the work you will do and the strategies you will suggest with them.

Important Money Matters

The design of the Fiscalosophy Dialogue is a left-brain/right-brain inquiry (what do you think and how do you feel?) to understand a client’s behaviors and habits in eight categories critical to the planning process: 1) their debt, 2) their saving, 3) their spending, 4) their insurance, 5) their investment in the stock market, 6) their needs for their children, 7) their desire to give to others and 8) their feelings about retirement.