Who is Your Client?

Good comments Andrew
I agree with what you have said. What you have said gets to the heart of alot of our process. I agree you need to know the different styles of each person and how they wish to be communicated with. I found in a recent family case how one family member's style was only to provide limited information because that is what he wanted but another brother wants the full details and transparency. Also, by understanding each person's behavioral style this sharpens your ability to ask the right questions to each person because each person has different life and financial motivations. This will build more trust and enable each person to feel understood. This will greatly help the alignment process. For instance, some people have more of a lifestyle perspective, others are goal driven, for others it is adventure or securing the future of their family.

Who is Your Client?

I have had some really interesting conversations with advisors during the past few weeks during presentations. In particular, when I have been talking about family dynamics and asking the question who is your advice really impacting?

Generally, the obvious answer would be that your client is the person who currently has the wealth for which financial planning is required (the “Wealth Holder”). What about the beneficiaries of the wealth? Their lives are generally being impacted by the decisions that get made in the financial and estate plans. To some degree aren’t these beneficiaries also your client? In providing advice, you need to understand the unique behavioral styles of BOTH the Wealth Holder and the beneficiaries. If you do not take into account the unique financial personality of the beneficiaries then the plan could be useless once the wealth does transfer to them. Isn’t this at least partly why we see so many financial and estate plans practically fall apart, breakdowns in family relationships, and generally dysfunctional behavior?

Also, as an advisor by learning to discover who the beneficiaries are during the life time of the Wealth Holder will help you cement long-term relationships with them.

Another interesting scenario that often comes up is that the person requesting the advice and/or managing the wealth is different to the Wealth Holder. For instance, if a son is managing the financial affairs of his mother whose behavioral style do you need to understand? Is it the mother or the son, or both? I have seen many financial advisors get into difficulties by not truly understanding the financial personality of the son. To a large degree you are dealing with the behavior of the son. You will need to know how to communicate with him and also how his view of the world impacts the planning for his mother. After all, the son will see the world through his lens.