At Highland Financial Advisors, we believe that the foundation of a successful financial plan starts with clear and meaningful goal setting. Our latest video emphasizes why identifying your financial goals is crucial whether you're working with an adviser or managing your finances independently. Through our unique Discovery process, we guide you to connect deeply with your aspirations, ensuring that your financial plan aligns with the life you envision. Join us as we uncover the powerful questions that can transform your financial journey and help you build a future free from regrets.
Welcome back to the Highland Financial Advisors YouTube channel. In the previous video, we discussed the importance of goal setting and how it should be the first process you start in a relationship with a financial adviser. Identifying your goals is crucial whether you're doing it yourself, are married, or plan alone.
How Our Process Differs
In that video, I detailed how the industry may be set up to use financial planning software and goal setting and how our process differs. I mentioned that certain questions can stimulate conversations about what's essential in your life. We believe that by creating a vision for the future you want, you can achieve the life that's calling out to you. This vision is a powerful starting point for successful financial planning and investment decisions. We don't want to look in the rearview mirror and have regrets; we want to make decisions today that build a future without those regrets.
The Discovery Process
Today, I will talk about three questions we use in our planning process, which we call Discovery. I want to highlight the importance of getting into the qualitative aspects of the discovery process to identify goals rather than just filling out a quantitative data-gathering sheet. We've found that people want to connect to goals, not just numbers. These three questions, developed by George Kinder, founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, are very powerful. He wrote a book in the 1990s called "The Seven Stages of Money Maturity," which might be a good read for you.
Question 1: Imagining Financial Freedom
The first question is kind of fun: You have more money than you'll ever need—maybe not as much as Bill Gates, but more than enough. What would you do, have, or be? What experiences would make your life full and rich, realizing financial freedom?
Question 2: Limited Time, Unlimited Funds
The second question is different: You have more than enough money, but a doctor tells you that you have 5 to 10 years to live. You'll never feel sick, but you won't know when the end will come. What would you change about your life? What would become urgent and important?
Question 3: 24 Hours to Live
The third question is even more profound: You have more than enough money, but a doctor tells you that you have 24 hours to live. With no time to make changes or arrangements, how would that make you feel? What regrets might surface? What do you wish you had done or achieved? Are there unresolved family issues?
Creating Your Vision
The answers to these questions help us explore what's below the surface of our conscious thoughts, leading to a vision that sets our life goals. This vision is crucial for developing a financial plan you can wholeheartedly buy into. It's about more than just answering questions on a sheet of paper—it's about creating a life that invigorates and challenges you.
Common Themes in Financial Planning
From our experience, common themes that emerge from this process include finding time and money for family, work, creativity, spirituality, and health. A good financial planner helps you discover, quantify, and prioritize these goals, laying the groundwork for the financial planning process before diving into numbers or investments.
Get in Touch
I hope this helps you in your process. You can always reach out if you'd like to talk to us. We offer a free initial consultation. Visit our website, HighlandPlanning.com, to schedule a complimentary meeting. I look forward to having you join us in future videos.