For many financial advisors, an early planning conversation often includes asking clients to identify financial goals. But when clients are still emotionally weighed down by an immediate pain point – the source of their stress or uncertainty that led them to seek out their advisor in the first place – their ability to articulate meaningful long-term goals may be limited. What emerges instead is a practical-sounding to-do list that lacks inspiration. Which can leave both client and advisor feeling stuck: The client doesn’t have the motivation to act, and the advisor struggles to guide the plan forward in a way that connects.
To help create better engagement, advisors often turn to frameworks like SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound) goals – which can be great for implementation, but aren’t always designed to evoke meaning or spark emotional connection. And when used too early, they risk leaving clients feeling overburdened with a pile of uninspiring tasks. Instead of inspiring change, the plan begins to feel like a chore.
A more effective approach is to start with the immediate stressor – the problem that brought the client in – and wait to develop an inspiring financial plan built on deeper vision-building during a second or third monitoring meeting. By then, the client has had a chance to feel some initial relief and develop trust in their advisor, creating the space for deeper reflection and more personally resonant goals.
In these later conversations, advisors can use carefully timed questions to guide clients into a more expansive mindset – exploring what their ideal life might look like, the kind of legacy they hope to leave behind, or the meaningful experiences they haven’t yet had. Advisors can then transition to asking questions like, “What’s one change you could make today that moves you toward that vision?”, allowing the client to identify a single, manageable step they can take now.
To further support this process and help the vision-setting process resonate with clients, advisors can preview these conversations in advance, providing an agenda with some key questions they plan to ask and explaining how the conversation can be valuable to the client. During the meeting, a Statement of Financial Purpose can effectively capture what matters to the client in their own words. And leaving space for follow-up questions and shared reflection can encourage honest dialogue and build trust, which are key to effective vision-setting conversations. Because these conversations aren’t just about uncovering what matters to the client – they’re about co-creating that vision together, so the financial plan becomes a true reflection of the client’s values and priorities – with the advisor playing an essential role in helping bring that vision to life.
Ultimately, the key point is that the best financial plans don’t just help clients save more, spend wisely, or retire on time – they spark excitement for what’s ahead. When clients can see what’s possible and feel truly connected to that vision, follow-through becomes less of a task and more of a natural next step. And when advisors make space for those conversations – not too early, but at just the right time – planning stops being a checklist and starts becoming something transformational!
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