There is only one thing I know for sure and it this: We can never improve anything if we think we already doing something well. The fact is the evidence (the economy) does not support the idea that the financial industry is doing well at helping clients manage debt and spending.
Over the last few weeks promoting my bootcamp I’ve gotten a taste of what it feels like to cold call once again. No worries though, it never bothered me before and doesn’t bother me now, but it did remind me that the shift and changes taking place in my business now make so much new again. It feels a little like starting over with a hell of a lot more background information and experience.
The inspiration for my blog title this week comes from the numerous conversations I’ve had over these last few months talking to advisors, managers and the like about the bootcamp. I had several professionals say to me when discussing the lack of education for advisors on debt and spending, “but we do that already,” or, “I think we’ve really got that covered.” But that wasn’t good enough for me. If any one national firm was doing this amazingly well it would be front page news and it wouldn’t be an ad. If the bulk of financial professionals were having success managing debt and cash flow already they’d be getting better results.
It’s a good thing I don’t give up easily, and ultimately most of the people I spoke with were pretty open-minded as it turns out, because after we talked a little more the comments sounded more like this, “Yeah you are right we refer our clients to lenders to get their debt sorted but we don’t follow up during reviews,” “yes we do record debt information on the net worth statements but we don’t go beyond that unless the client asks,” and, “We do feel we do this already but we don’t know if our clients are getting the cash flow results they desire because it is more of an initial rather than ongoing process”.
Let’s get one thing straight. I do NOT think advisors are bad or lazy because so few include debt and cash flow in their process or if they attempt to do so but find their process ineffective. It’s NOT advisors’ faults. I’ll tell you the same thing I tell my clients. The evidence shows us that we should have the results we currently have. We have no standardized training on debt and spending. Heck right now (I’m working on a prototype to make this next statement a thing of the past) I have to cobble programs together to effectively deliver a plan a client can follow, and this is all I do.
So how can we expect anything other than the reality we have? We can’t. We also can’t fix it by telling ourselves that we already include debt and cash flow in our planning process, or that our clients don’t have debt. We cannot even improve our process or ourselves if we won’t admit we need to do so.
Not providing advice on debt and spending to the extent so much of the public needs and wants is not your fault….not doing something about it now as opportunities to hone your skills become available will be. Let’s be willing to say we can do better; it’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a strength.
