Financial Planning Sessions - Top 5 Mistakes

10 October 2024

Delivering a fantastic Financial Planning service isn’t just about managing investments, pensions, or savings. It goes far beyond that. At its core, Financial Planning should be about helping clients create the life and lifestyle they truly want.

But how can we do that if we don’t first have a clear understanding of what that ideal life looks like?

Without clarity, there’s nothing to work toward. No plan to build. No way to measure whether we’ve succeeded.

Imagine trying to construct a house without blueprints—how would you know if you’ve done a good job once the project is finished? The same applies to Financial Planning.

Our job as Planners is to help clients gain clarity and vision. If they already knew exactly what they wanted, they wouldn’t need our help in the first place!

But often, clients come to us focused on their pensions, savings, and investments—on the technical stuff.

Our role is to cut through that noise and help them articulate what their dream life truly looks like.

However, in trying to do this, I often see Planners making these five common mistakes:

Not Dedicating a Session to Life Planning

One of the biggest mistakes is trying to tackle Life Planning during a fact-finding meeting or, even worse, while doing live cash flow modelling.

This simply doesn’t work.

Life Planning is a human process that can’t be done while discussing technicalities like pensions or investments.

You need a session entirely devoted to talking about life—what the client wants in it, what they don’t want in it, and what their aspirations are.

This session should be all about them as people – no contamination from numbers or products.

Failing to Prepare the Client Properly

Another frequent mistake is not preparing the client for this important session, especially if the client is part of a couple. Both partners must attend and come ready with their heads in the right space.

To achieve this, we need to clearly articulate the purpose of the session, why it’s important, and what it will look like.

Warm-up work, like a Coaching Scan Questionnaire, can also be invaluable in getting the client mentally prepared for these deeper conversations.

Relying Too Much on a Fact-Find

Life Planning is a human, emotional process. It’s not something you can fill out on a form. While fact-finding has its place in Financial Planning, trying to use a form to guide Life Planning discussions is doomed to fail.

As soon as a form appears, we tend to shift into “compliance mode,” focusing on details like dates of birth, National Insurance numbers, or tax information—none of which relate to the real conversation about their hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

The goal should be to inspire them to THINK BIG, not just to fill in boxes.

Having No Structure

While you shouldn’t use a form, you also shouldn’t go in without a plan.

A common mistake is to have a lovely conversation with the client, only to walk away with no clear idea of what they actually want.

You need a structure—a loose, mental framework to guide the conversation—so by the end of the session, the client has crystallised their vision.

It should feel relaxed and conversational, but underneath, there needs to be a clear process driving the dialogue.

Contaminating the Session with Technicalities

Finally, Life Planning sessions often get muddied with technical details. This happens when others in the business ask you to check a client’s mortgage statement, investment profile, or similar technical matters during the meeting.

Resist the temptation to let these issues invade the Life Planning session.

This is a human conversation.

Opening with technical bits will derail the session before it even begins. Instead, ensure all those technical questions are handled in a separate mini-session or over a quick phone call prior to the Life Planning meeting.

In conclusion, if we don’t know what the client is trying to achieve in life, we’ll never know if our plan got them there.

Avoid these common mistakes, and you’ll help your clients move from a place of uncertainty to a clear vision of their ideal future—one you can help them achieve.

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