The question most advisors aren't asking clients about their financial future

Life is filled with uncertainty — and I’m not just talking about the current economic environment.

Sure, rising interest rates, inflation and stock market volatility mixed with a new Congress give us plenty to ponder politically and economically, but we’re also awakening as a country to the importance of how those financial factors affect us in every other aspect of our lives. Circumstances over the past few years have led us to a desperate search for people we can trust. The rate of change is accelerating faster than we can comprehend and the world is more complex than it ever has been — socially, politically, financially and emotionally.

So where does that leave the average American today?

While clients may find themselves grasping for any sense of stability in today’s environment, consider the core tendencies, behaviors and emotions they tie to their financial life. For some people, this might mean making endless plans to map out their future, while others will throw themselves into work to stay busy. But stability comes down to first knowing yourself. 

As a teenager in the early 1980s, with conditions very similar to what they are today, I watched my parents go bankrupt as farmers. Without even realizing it, the trauma of my experience defined my relationship with money and as a result, it completely reshaped my life. As the years went by and I began building a successful career, nothing I did, no amount of money I made, was enough. That’s when I realized a core piece of my financial life hadn’t been considered. I was missing an understanding of what freedom meant to me.

Everyone’s definition of freedom is different, but it all starts with the same fundamental needs. Maslow’s hierarchy has always served as a visual reminder that we all have a foundation of needs that must be met before we can start living into our infinite potential. To gain clarity on what is needed to meet those basic needs, it is critical to take a step back to discover who you really are and how you have established a relationship with money.

Without this foundational level of awareness, clients will find their potential is limited, and their financial future directionless. It was that awareness that made me realize scarcity and worry were standing in the way of finding my freedom. Fear drove nearly every financial decision I made up to that point in my life, but I knew there had to be a better way, both for myself and for those we served.

When speaking with new clients, I ask them to start by defining what freedom means to them. Not exactly the type of question you’d expect from your financial advisor. When they hear the word freedom, I ask what comes to mind? The ability to travel? More time for a favorite hobby? Financial security? A flexible work schedule in retirement?

The reality is that we often avoid self-reflection in our financial lives. Maybe we think the road to reaching that freedom is too steep. That it seems out of reach or too idealistic, or maybe we’re just afraid of confronting the topic of money, thinking it will solve itself if we just ignore it. This is where financial advisors today can play their most critical role. Modern-day investors demand more than one-dimensional updates on the state of the market and portfolio performance. The world has changed. People have changed. And what we’re looking for now is much more than anything a bar graph or a spreadsheet can provide. We crave connection, understanding, empathy, competence and a care factor that gives us a reason to trust again. 

Unfortunately, because of the historical lack of trust in financial services (financial services is the least trusted sector behind social media, according to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer), most people don’t know how or where to begin. This is true for finding a trustworthy advisor as well as anyone interested in doing their own self-guided financial planning. Some bad apples have given this industry — which I consider to be a true profession — a bad reputation.

So where do clients begin?

It starts with first getting their arms around their entire financial life. Encourage them to take an honest look at where they are in life, assess their priorities, reflect on their values, and align it all to their goals. Notice how none of the things listed was money? That’s because the measure of true wealth (all that money can’t buy, and death can’t take away) is about so much more than the assets.

If clients want to take back control of their life and need the steps to help them get there, we’ve outlined a step-by-step approach in my latest book, Find your Freedom: Financial Planning for a Life on Purpose, which provides a framework to take ownership of their financial lives. So clients can live their lives by design, not by default.

Finding freedom isn’t as elusive as clients think. Money doesn’t have to be scary or complicated — or the center of every conversation with their advisor. In fact, I encourage individuals to seek an advisor who can do quite the opposite. An advisor who can look them in the eye and ask about their family before their finances, who will genuinely care about their life goals instead of “the gains,” and who will be one of their first phone calls on the days they reach those monumental milestones.

Ron Carson is CEO and founder of Carson Group, which serves advisors and investors through its businesses: Carson Group Coaching, Carson Group Partners and Carson Wealth. Follow him @RCHusker.