How Does Financial Life Planning Work?

Written By Francisco Ayala

In our blog post Financial Planning vs. Financial Life Planning: What’s the Difference? (Part 2), we introduced the key differentiator between the two philosophies: a financial life planner truly gets to know you before advising you. We get to know our clients through our personalized discovery process, which goes far beyond the traditional planning method of simply trying to ensure you have enough money to eventually retire. 

So how do we do that?

We employ a number of tools as part of that personalized discovery process. One is the True Wealth Process. It has five stages that help put us in a better position to advise you. They are: explore, engage, envision, enlighten and empower. 

By working through this process, we’ll learn what really motivates and scares you, how you hope to position your family financially now and in the future and what you’re expecting from our partnership together.

Each stage allows us to get more information while we get to know one another better.

Explore

  • Get acquainted

  • Learn about your needs, concerns and aspirations 

  • Provide information and describe the process

  • Relate services to your issues

  • Determine fit and establish a relationship

Engage

  • Gain awareness regarding your unique frame of reference

  • Listen to your perspective

  • Identify your true values

  • Clarify your priorities

Envision

  • Guide you in creating a vision of your ideal life

  • Help you to define and prioritize your personal and financial goals

  • Establish guidelines for developing a financial plan that aligns with your values and priorities

Enlighten

  • Summarize and clarify insights and knowledge about your values, priorities, concerns, transitions, goals and objectives

  • Demonstrate how the financial solutions proposed support your life vision and goals

Empower

  • Monitor progress and help you maintain focus on your personal and financial goals

  • Review your life goals periodically to ensure your financial plan continues to support your life vision

  • Address new issues, transitions and concerns

Our job is to help you use the resources you have to live your best life right now, instead of just during retirement (though we’ll do that, too). That’s what financial life planning does. It puts the emphasis on your entire life. So what are you waiting for?

Ready to get started? Schedule a free consultation today to take the first step to creating your financial life plan and maximizing your right now.

Francisco Ayala

Francisco became a financial life planner to help his clients live authentically with financial freedom. Like many, Francisco struggled to find joy in society’s version of well-being. He found endless consumerism draining and lacking true happiness. It wasn’t until a long period of self-reflection and discovering his personal values that he started to understand what it meant to him to live with purpose. With this newfound perspective, he began aligning his money with his true interests and began living intentionally. He is motivated to help others do the same.

https://www.coleridgegroup.com/about/#our-team
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