Financial advisors often describe their value in terms of investment performance, tax efficiency, or comprehensive planning. Yet, when asked what truly differentiates their work, many clients acknowledge that their most meaningful impact occurs in moments that go far beyond asset allocation or retirement projections. The real value of advice often lies in helping clients navigate identity shifts, life transitions, and deeply personal money narratives – work that edges into meaning, purpose, and even what might be called self-transcendence. The challenge, however, is that virtually no client searches for a financial planner to help them “find purpose”.
In this 186th episode of Kitces & Carl, Michael Kitces and client communication expert Carl Richards discuss the tension between the deep, transformative work advisors offer and the initial (transactional) problems that bring clients to advisors in the first place.
A powerful illustration of this disconnect emerges when advisors reflect on clients’ emotional responses to money itself. A client who associates money with childhood instability or parental conflict may react viscerally to financial conversations in ways that seem disproportionate on the surface. Nearly every advisor would agree that understanding this backstory is critically important to serving the client well. Yet few firms have a clearly defined, systematic way to uncover such information with existing clients – let alone explain it as a value proposition with new ones! This capacity to hold space during life transitions – divorce, widowhood, retirement, liquidity events, health crises – is where trust deepens and relationships transform. These are the moments that create lifelong clients and enthusiastic referrers, yet the client themselves may struggle to articulate exactly what the advisor did and why it was so valuable.
The marketing dilemma, then, is how to communicate this deeper value without resorting to clichés like “peace of mind” or abstract promises of transformation. Rather than leading with lofty language about purpose or self-transcendence, advisors can meet prospects where they are by addressing the concrete problems they expect to solve while subtly demonstrating the broader journey through storytelling. Sharing anonymized narratives about real client conversations and experiences allows advisors to show, rather than declare, the deeper levels of their work. These stories function as an upstream filter, attracting clients who resonate with a more meaningful engagement while still honoring the practical entry points that bring them in the door.
Ultimately, the profession’s highest value may not lie in spreadsheets or portfolios, but in guiding clients through the intersection of money and meaning. Advisors need not abandon technical excellence or overtly market “self-transcendence” to fulfill this role. Instead, by competently solving the presenting problem while remaining attentive to the emotional undercurrents that surface along the way – and by thoughtfully sharing stories that reflect these transformations – they can align their marketing with their true impact. In doing so, advisors elevate their work from transactional planning to transformational guidance, strengthening client relationships and deepening first-time connections with prospects!
