Comments on: Models for Integrative Advising

By: admin

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:56:59 +0000

While there may certainly be an objective standard to determine whether any given approach is NOT effective, it would appear the same cannot be said for determining whether a particular approach or model is MOST effective–that would depend on our clients, whom we cannot speak for.

In this respect, all four models described above (and possibly others), can be structured in such a way as to be effective, as long as effectiveness is the goal, and the requisite skills are present in those all those involved.

Who else has had success with a particular model, and why?

By: Greg Wendt, CFP

Greg Wendt, CFP — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:51:00 +0000

Thank u for raising important issues and questions.

I have found the most important way is to begin a narrative with the client early on that weaves all aspects of life and well being into the financial part of the relationship.

I like to ask questions about health, life purpose, life goals and passions, ask ‘what does life look like in 5,10,15 years?’, “who are u in relationships with?” and “what are the qualities of those relationships?”

i’m challenged because it ultimately comes back to financial conversation. Even so it is very helpful because framing the conversation in this way really helps clients seethe big picture of real wealth vs money…

By: Robert Grey

Robert Grey — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:21:29 +0000

Denver Money Manager is developing Model #2. We have 4 senior advisors in the firm – a financial planner, new business development & community outreach professional, investment stategist, and chief financial officer. Additonally, two of us have worked together for 20 year in the personal growth industry. We are developing Model #2 around our corporate mission statement…”it’s not just about the money, it’s about empowering people to Get Rich, Stay Rich, and Live Well”. We believe being rich and living well have very little to do with size of your wallet. Your net worth does determine your self worth. Prior to adopting integrative advising, like most advisers we were a “financial daycare” center. In other words, clients dropped their money off at our door and checked back later to see how the kids were doing. If they didn’t like the way their money/kids were behaving, they closed their account and moved onto a new “financial daycare center.” It occurred to us one day that we ought to try to teach and empower our clients with “parenting skills” when it comes to their money…this launched us into integrative advising.

By: Angela Steidley

Angela Steidley — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:16:45 +0000

I work in a type of model #2 environment, where we have professionals with different areas of expertise in the same building, with other contracted professionals available a phone call away. I like that model, because I get to know the other professionals as people too and have a greater sesnse of confidence in them when I refer clients to them. We also have a lot of common items (office machines, cleaning services, mail, etc.) taken care of with less hassle. But I also really like model #3 and hope to become that type of professional too after I get accredited and continue growing in my profession. The model #3 person, through training, knows enough about the topics to know how they inter-relate. They can help the client choose appropriately and move forward on several fronts, but will know when to refer out too. So combining the two models might look like a GP who in her/his own life developed a firm spiritual, financial, and healthy personal lifestyle and worked in an organization of other committed professionals (who ideally were also holistic in their approach to their own lives) who were the specialists in THEIR fields. Not all Renaissance people themselves, but with that mindset: open-minded and interested in many disciplines. The “broad-spectrum GP” would then know and understand how the various “remedies” and “healthy systems” work together and could talk with facility about those subjects and how actions in any of the areas might improve one’s overall well-being. So, I’m envisioning a financial professional who gets training in and learns enough through their own personal experiences about insurance and estate-planning and taxes and healthy lifestyles and spiritual ways of interacting with the world to talk comfortably and intelligently about them. That sort of broad-spectrum person would also be a person with a lively curiosity and a sense of humor. If people like that worked together in an existing organization or formed their own organization, the synergy could be tremendous. They could work as a collaborative team, much like the medical meetings my registered nurse mother used to attend once a week at the hospital she worked in. The physician, the nurse, the social worker, the dietitian, the discharge planner, and maybe some other areas (the chaplain, the occupational therapist, the physical therapist?) would meet and discuss each patient. What if a staff of life-planners, with different areas of expertise in an organization, worked collaboratively with each other to help the clients? The organization would maintain the confidentiality, but the client would be informed from the beginning that this would be a “collegial” environment where different colleagues could work together as a team to give the clients enough information and support for the clients to make good decisions for their lives.

By: Matthew Clement

Matthew Clement — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:06:51 +0000

I use “model #1.” I create and maintain written plans, and provide financial and behavioral advising in service to that plan. I thereafter outsource everything else: insurance, estate planning, taxes, asset management, transition coaching, etc.