What planners can learn from successful entrepreneurs

If it is true that only two out of 10 people seek financial advice, perhaps planners need to look to successful entrepreneurs for tips on how to raise their stake, says Michael Dale. 

“His eyes are a little closer together than I’d like,” thought Jim, sitting opposite a financial planner for the first time. “Looks pretty smart though, nice tie he’s wearing.”  

Jim’s senses were heightened at this first meeting; alert, nervous, but very observant. He could hear the slightest of sounds around the office, read the small print on the framed certificates mounted on the walls; he even noticed the planner’s perfectly manicured finger nails as he reached for a pen on the desk.  

Jim had never been to see a financial planner before. Scary stuff! It was his brother who convinced him that he needed some guidance. “Fair dinkum bloke is Dave,” he’d told him. “Been looking after me for years.” 

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“I’ll bet this money bloke charges like a wounded bull,” Jim thought, while weighing Dave up. “How will I know if I can trust him?” he wondered. “I mean, can you trust anyone?” 

Dave the planner, asked a few questions, then listened; asked a few more and listened some more.  

Jim was generally a man of few words, but Dave’s easy manner and genuine interest in his life had Jim so relaxed that he talked like he’d never talked before.

He told Dave about his past, current situation, aspirations and future plans. In just under an hour Dave knew just about everything he needed to know about Jim and his family.  

Jim was especially happy, aware of the costs, comfortable and keen to come back for the next meeting, at which Dave would unveil plans and recommendations for Jim’s future. He felt relieved that he’d found someone who could help; someone he might be able to trust. 

With time, the relationship would grow. Developing trust takes time, integrity is constant, the planner’s life-blood, but once gone can never be recaptured. And then there’s expertise, which is a given. What else could Jim want? 

It had taken Dave many years to learn and apply these ‘soft communication skills’. Early in his career, he’d come to the conclusion that the first person he’d need to work on would not be clients, but himself – that was, if he was to become the financial planner people wanted to deal with.  

He also looked upon financial planning as a noble profession – not in the category of saving lives, caring for the sick, or helping underprivileged students master basic numeracy and literacy skills, but a noble profession that could make a difference to people’s lives in far reaching and indirect ways. 

He would provide guidance, show people how to become financially secure, and in the process help them build a financial wall around their families that nothing could penetrate.

Even those with more altruistic objectives, who were not remotely interested in money, could benefit from his advice.

By becoming financially independent they may be able to free up time so they could help others through volunteering, philanthropy, charity, education, art, music, even by becoming a patriarch, meeting the expenses for those less privileged.  

Dave had his good days and his bad days just like everyone else. But he was always aware of the value of sound financial advice and his belief that spending a lifetime helping individuals to become financially independent was a worthwhile occupation. It reinforced his opinion that financial planning was indeed a noble profession.  

When Benjamin Graham wrote the first edition of his classic book, ‘The Intelligent Investor’ in 1950, a book that Warren Buffett still says today is the finest book ever written on investing, in the USA only two out of 10 people sought professional advice. 

In the USA and Australia today, 60 years later, that ratio remains the same. Today in Australia, there are thousands of hard-working people earning high incomes who have no idea of their daily expenses, or where their money disappears to each month.

Not only that, seeking financial advice from a professional financial planner would not even be close to getting on their priority list. 

Recently, when asked the question, “What’s the biggest mistake we make when it comes to money?” Warren Buffett said, “Well, I think the biggest mistake is not learning the habits of saving properly early. Because saving is a habit. And then, trying to get rich quick. It’s pretty easy to get well-to-do slowly. But it’s not easy to get rich quick.” 

So often when money and investing is considered, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that saving can wait until a later date, and that the best investments are the ones that no one knows about. However, those thoughts are undeniably mistaken.   

So whose fault is it that only two out of 10 people in Australia seek professional financial advice? I don’t know the answer to that, but it certainly isn’t the fault of the Australian public.

So what can professional financial planners do to provide a solution? Could they take a leaf out of the successful entrepreneur’s book? 

Dave is an experienced professional financial planner, a caring individual, with the required technical knowledge, empathy and communication skills which are so integral to successful relationships.

So what could Dave learn about financial planning from successful entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and others of that ilk?

They could teach him nothing about financial planning, but almost everything about self-promotion, action, energy, and innovation which may be required to change that 60-year-old two-out-of-10 figure. 

All professional financial planners need to be reminded of the value and tremendous service they provide, but also we need to learn and put into practice the skills of the successful self-promoting, action-driven entrepreneur, so that the majority of Australians begin to seek and benefit from professional sound financial advice. 

Today we have the luxury of the internet, email, YouTube, blogs, podcasts and hundreds of websites to get our message across.

Surely the two out of 10 people seeking professional financial advice can be increased with persistence, patience, action, energy, self-promotion and the belief in what we do; that it is valuable and worthwhile. The successful entrepreneurs would do it. 

Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate once said, “The older I get, the less I listen to what people say, and pay more attention to what they do.” So let’s get busy and be judged by our actions. 

Michael Dale is a senior financial planner at Fiducian Financial Services.