Your client’s decisions are almost always subconsciously driven by invisible influences.

Should I wear a suit? Should CNBC be on in the lobby? Does the way I’m presenting the info influence the client’s decision? Should I offer free financial planning in the beginning or charge for it?

Whether these things should influence a client’s decision-making or not, they do.

Fortunately, Derek Tharp has conducted the research for these questions and joined the show to share the psychological insights advisors need to know to improve the communication and delivery of advice.

We discuss:

• What are prospective clients subconsciously assessing to determine trust and credibility
• How your clothes signal different things to different people
• The “Guardrails” approach that improves confidence and behavior around retirement spending
• The “Mapquest” vs “GPS” approach in financial planning
• Why initial planning fees impact the perceived value of ongoing planning

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Resources:

• The featured partner for this episode is Knudge, an automated system to help clients actually follow through on their tasks and reach their financial goals

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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The job of a financial advisor and planner isn’t simply to dispense the advice, pat yourself on the back, and walk away as if your job is done.

It’s to help the client follow through on your advice.

Ensuring they implement and execute the items you’ve laid out that solve their problems and achieve their goals. The reality is that getting clients to actually follow through and implement the advice you give without constant follow-up is hard.

There are several possible explanations. One of the most prominent culprits is a psychological barrier inherent within the very nature of financial advice. The battle between the current and future self.

We discuss:

• Why the current versus future self is such a powerful force
• A strategy to counter the battle between the current and future self
• 9 simple and effective ways to use this strategy (every day) with clients

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Resources:

• The featured partner for this episode is Knudge, an automated system to help clients actually follow through on their tasks and reach their financial goals

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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Money and happiness will forever be intertwined, specifically the relationship between the two.

While money may not be able to buy happiness, it can certainly influence it.

When you’re working with people and their money, you have the opportunity to help them use their money in a way that accumulates happiness rather than just simply accumulating wealth.

Chris Budd runs an organization focused on helping advisors and planners understand what clients actually want from their money. And, he explains what advisors need to know in order to help clients become happier and more fulfilled, not just wealthier.

We discuss:

• Why the worst first question is: “What does money mean to you?”
• The “un-training” every advisor needs to improve their relationships
• When he realized clients didn’t actually want to talk about money
• The “financial wellbeing junkie” conversation to have with every client
• The ways to spend money that create long-term happiness

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Resources:

• The featured partner for this episode is Knudge, an automated system to help clients actually follow through on their tasks and reach their financial goals

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X: @jbrendanfrazier

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Money decisions are never just about money.

Research tells us that about 90% of all financial decisions are made emotionally, not logically. Decisions driven by our mind rather than our money.

And every financial behavior, even if it appears illogical, makes perfect sense once you understand the underlying beliefs, feelings, and thoughts that accompanied the decision.

These beliefs, feelings, and thoughts form your money mindset.

Fortunately, Rick Kahler is one of the pioneers in this space and shares from his own experience working with clients the latest tools and research to help you discover and change your client’s money mindset.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Why there is no such thing as an illogical behavior
• The three exercises he uses to explore clients’ money beliefs
• Why asking questions kills conversational flow
• A powerful conversational tool to replace asking questions
• Why you can’t best serve your clients until you do your own work

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Resources:

• The featured partner for this episode is Knudge, an automated system to help clients actually follow through on their tasks and reach their financial goals

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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Whether you’ve been an advisor for four days or four decades, you know that your client’s success has just as much to do with their mind as their money.

It’s simply not enough to run through Monte Carlo simulations and construct diversified portfolios. And you know it’s critical for you to be able to understand your client’s psychology and behaviors around money.

But, the challenge lies in knowing how to apply psychology to real-life client scenarios.

Fortunately, Dr. Brad Klontz is one of the foremost authorities on financial psychology and works with advisors and planners to do just that.

We discuss:

• How our genetics have programmed us to fail with money
• The importance of knowing your client’s “Money Scripts”
• The way he communicates the role of financial psychology to clients and prospects
• Why he lets clients decide if they want financial psychology
• The one technique every advisor needs to change client behavior

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Resources:

• The featured partner for this episode is Knudge, an automated system to help clients follow through on their tasks and reach their financial goals

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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Trust is the foundation of success in financial advice.

Research has found that trust is the #1 characteristic clients look for in a financial advisor.

But how can you quickly instill trust into the conversation with a prospective client?

How can you consistently build trust throughout your relationship with a current client so they refer more and follow your advice?

Mary Schmid will explain how to conduct conversations that quickly and consistently build trust with clients and prospects.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Why conversations send our brains into “Connect” or “Protect” mode
• The conversational techniques to get someone into “Connect” mode
• Why you should never talk about the weather
• The trust-building power of using an agenda in meetings
• The trust-eroding mistakes we make and never realize

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Resources:

• The featured partner for this episode is Knudge, an automated system to help clients follow through on their tasks and reach their financial goals

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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Every single advisor and planner recognizes the importance of the human side when working with people and their money.

And every single advisor and planner wants practical, tangible ways to embed it in their practice.

After exploring the human side of money with 50 of the brightest minds on behavior, psychology, communication, and money, I wanted to help make it as practical as possible. Consider this the training that every advisor needs but never received in any training, designation, or certification.

Here are the top 10 insights and ideas from those 50 conversations that you can apply tomorrow.

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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Most financial advisors do a great job focusing on WHAT clients want to achieve (Goals) and HOW to achieve it (Financial Planning).

But the best advice focuses first and foremost on WHY.

It focuses on the client’s values, purpose, intentions (what’s truly most important in their lives). And everything flows from there. A financial plan without a “Why” is merely data on a page. A portfolio without a “Why” is merely a list of investments.

Starting with “Why” infuses life into the financial planning process.

And, fortunately, Tim Maurer has been through the top training in the industry and has spent years teaching advisors how to do just that.

We discuss:

• Behavioral Finance 2.0 – the future of behavioral finance in the industry
• The four cards he uses to help advisors uncover what’s most important in their clients’ lives
• “Why are we here?” – why this question is so powerful and how to use it
• “Advisor-Driven” versus “Client-Inspired” recommendations
• Why he never gives more than three implementation items at a time

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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What’s the point of tripling your net worth if you still dread getting out of bed every morning?

That’s why financial advice at the highest level focuses on more than the accumulation of money. It focuses on the alignment of money with what’s most important in the client’s life.

It’s what Dr. Preston Cherry calls “Life Money Balance.”

It’s at the core of his planning process, and he joined the show to walk us through how he helps his clients achieve life and money balance.

We discuss:

• Why “statements tell stories” – the information you can glean simply by looking at statements
• The “Emotional HSA” (Honest Self Audit): A crucial step in achieving Life Money Balance
• The “Money Psychology” meeting he takes all clients through
• The “Money Egg” exercise he uses in this meeting
• The power of reframing a “Savings Plan” to a “Spending Plan”

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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It’s the most storied rivalry in finance.

The current self versus the future self. The very nature of financial planning work with clients is heavily focused on the future.

Yet, the current self often calls the shots when it comes to financial decisions.

In a profession so heavily focused on the future, the key to improving client’s behaviors, decisions, and outcomes starts by addressing the most storied rivalry in finance.

By striking a balance between their current self and future self.

Fortunately, Hal Hershfield is renowned for his work on research on the future self, and he joined the show to explain everything we need to know.

We discuss:

• The current versus future self in financial decision-making
• How to help clients better connect to their future self
• The undiscussed pitfalls of focusing too heavily on the future self
• The question to ask clients who don’t spend as much as they could
• The “Illusion of Wealth” and how it affects retirement and social security planning

To sign up for Brendan’s monthly newsletter focused on the human side of advice → Click Here

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier
• X:@jbrendanfrazier

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