Executive Summary
When a client first begins working with an advisor, the relationship is often marked with a flurry of onboarding tasks, immediate issues to resolve, and long-term planning goals to establish. However, this heightened activity often settles into a familiar routine over time. And as clients come into monitoring meetings, they may increasingly describe their situation as "fine", with no pressing issues to address. This can shift the advisor into a more passive role, waiting for significant life events – such as job changes, health issues, or financial setbacks – to reignite the client's need for engagement. Yet, while "fine" may seem like a signal of stagnation, it can also present an opportunity for the advisor to reengage the client and reinvigorate the relationship by revisiting goals and exploring new possibilities.
This transition is a core element of the "Fix, Fine, Flourish" financial planning framework. In this model, clients begin in the Fix phase, addressing immediate challenges and stabilizing their financial situation. As their primary concerns are resolved, clients enter the Fine phase, where stability is achieved, but the absence of urgent needs may eventually lead to disengagement. However, by encouraging clients to shift their focus from managing the status quo to reimagining their goals and pursuing new aspirations, advisors can guide them into the Flourish phase – where they pursue goals and aspirations beyond the basics of simply maintaining stability.
Monitoring meetings offer a key opportunity for advisors to nudge clients into the Flourish phase. If these meetings focus solely on tracking progress and reviewing financial updates, discussions may start feeling stagnant. Instead, reframing this meeting to discuss evolving goals and holistic life changes can encourage meaningful engagement. Advisors can ask reflective questions, such as "What's changed in your life since we last met?" or "What changes would make you feel more fulfilled?", to encourage clients to think beyond their current circumstances and think more about new opportunities for growth.
The beauty of the Flourish phase is that it resets the entire Fix, Fine, Flourish cycle. As clients identify new aspirations, they raise new questions and issues to address, returning them to a new Fix phase to move through the cycle again. This iterative process keeps clients engaged, ensuring they view financial planning as an ongoing partnership to help them proactively realize their evolving financial dreams.
Ultimately, the Fix, Fine, Flourish framework provides an organic way to keep clients engaged and focused on realizing meaningful financial goals. By reframing "fine" as a stepping-stone to something greater, advisors can help clients connect the financial planning process to their broader life aspirations. This approach not only strengthens the client-advisor relationship but also helps clients thrive by aligning their finances with the vision of a life well-lived!
When Monitoring Meetings Become "Fine", There's A Problem
Many great financial advisors eventually notice a concerning trend: clients who describe their situation as "fine" during routine monitoring meetings. While "Fine" might sound reassuring, it often signals a deeper issue – such as disengagement, missed opportunities for growth, and potential stagnation in the client-advisor relationship. After all, settling for "Fine" can mean missing out on the opportunity to achieve "great"!
For some clients, routine meetings with their financial advisor may feel like little more than maintenance check-ins rather than opportunities to evolve or dream bigger. This can create a sense of complacency, where both client and advisor assume that 'good enough' is sufficient without digging deeper to explore what's truly possible. While financial planners are accustomed to stepping in during crises or moments of urgent need, it's just as important to keep clients engaged when no immediate problem exists. Left unaddressed, "Fine" can diminish the perceived value of financial planning and, over time, lead to client disengagement.
Why "Fine" Isn't Good Enough
When clients say their financial situation is "fine", they may not fully recognize their own potential for growth. Just as people change over time, so do their financial needs, aspirations, and life circumstances. However, clients often struggle to see these changes within themselves. The psychological phenomenon known as the "end of history illusion" explains this tendency and suggests that people generally believe they have reached (or will reach) a stable point and won't change much thereafter. This mindset can limit their openness to exploring new financial goals, even as their circumstances, interests, and dreams continue to shift.
The challenge with "Fine" is that it places the advisor in a passive role, waiting for significant life events to occur before they're needed to step in again. Traditional financial planning often operates reactively, focusing on major life events like job changes, a health issue, or financial setbacks. But this 'wait-and-see' approach overlooks opportunities for proactive engagement – guiding clients toward new possibilities and achieving new and larger dreams.
Moreover, clients may not realize that financial planning can help them beyond solving immediate problems. For many, discussing finances is already challenging, whether it's addressing a tax situation or planning for retirement. Without guidance, they might not know they can use planning meetings to explore new opportunities and evolving goals. In short, clients often need prompting to understand that financial planning is not only about managing problems but also about creating new opportunities and realizing their potential for growth.
The Stagnation Of "Fine" In Relationships
Beyond financial concerns, the client-advisor relationship can suffer when "Fine" becomes the norm. Like any long-term partnership, the connection between an advisor and client requires nurturing to thrive. Without it, the relationship can grow distant – a dynamic similar to the 'seven-year itch' often seen in personal relationships. Over time, clients may disengage from regular meetings if they perceive little value or find the discussions repetitive. Some may even stop attending altogether, offering a polite, "I'll call you if something comes up."
Such distancing can weaken the relationship, making clients more likely to consider switching advisors or managing their finances independently. Financial advisors who hear "fine" too often may eventually find themselves blindsided by a client's unexpected decision to leave. What might appear as satisfaction on the surface often masks a deeper issue: a lack of engagement and meaningful growth in the relationship. Clients who don't feel that their advisor is actively contributing to their financial well-being may start to look elsewhere – not out of dissatisfaction, but in search of a more proactive partnership.
Helping Clients See Beyond "Fine"
When clients consider monitoring meetings as routine check-ins focused on maintaining the status quo, the value of the advisor-client relationship can be jeopardized. How can advisors help clients break out of the "Fine" trap and see these meetings as something more? The key lies in redefining the purpose of routine check-in meetings. Rather than viewing these sessions as routine meetings to monitor progress, advisors can reframe them as opportunities for discovery, reflection, and growth.
This shift begins by helping clients recognize that even without urgent financial issues, there can be room for proactive planning and new aspirations. Advisors can introduce the idea that financial planning evolves with life; what felt sufficient last year might not be enough today to align with current or future goals. Reframing these meetings as moments to assess life progress – not just financial metrics – can encourage clients to explore what 'great' might look like for them.
Advisors can facilitate this process by dedicating time during each meeting to ask reflective questions. These might include:
- What's changed in your life since we last met?
- Have any new goals, interests, or dreams come to mind recently?
- Are there areas of your financial plan where you feel uncertain or curious?
By prompting clients to think about their evolving lives, interests, and goals, advisors can uncover opportunities for deeper engagement and forward-looking planning.
Encouraging Clients To Embrace Growth
Ultimately, the goal is to inspire clients to see financial planning not just as a tool for managing crises but also as a pathway to growth, fulfillment, and realizing their full potential. Encouraging clients to articulate their aspirations helps them envision what a more vibrant financial future could look like.
Instead of letting the complacency of "Fine" become the status quo, advisors can help clients reimagine their future with excitement and possibility. This proactive approach not only strengthens the advisor-client relationship but also reinforces the idea that financial planning is a dynamic, ongoing process.
The "Fine" phase doesn't have to signal the end of the journey – it can serve as a stepping stone toward flourishing. By helping clients move beyond "Fine", advisors open the door to greater opportunities, ensuring their clients' financial and personal lives are not just stable but truly thriving!
Fix, Fine, Flourish – The Financial Planning Process
The "Fix, Fine, Flourish" framework for financial planning is a model that advisors can use to guide clients through different phases of their financial journeys. Each phase represents a distinct stage in the client experience, moving from addressing immediate needs to achieving long-term aspirations. Recognizing where a client falls within this framework allows advisors to tailor their approach, ensuring that clients remain engaged and continue to see the value of financial planning.
The Fix Phase: Responding To Immediate Needs
The Fix phase often marks the beginning of the advisor-client relationship, particularly when the client faces a challenging financial situation or life event. During this stage, clients often come to their advisors with urgent issues – whether it's navigating a career change, managing an unexpected expense, or addressing a significant financial concern like debt or a family transition. Depending on the complexity and scope of the issues, this phase can last anywhere from one to five years.
In this phase, advisors generally act as problem-solvers, helping clients stabilize their finances and regain a sense of control. Solutions might involve creating a debt repayment plan, adjusting investment strategies to account for new life circumstances, or developing a budget to manage cash flow. Clients in this phase are often highly engaged and motivated by the urgency of resolving their immediate concerns and alleviating financial stress.
While the Fix phase is necessary and often urgent, it's important for advisors to help clients recognize that it's only the beginning of the financial planning journey and to prepare them for what lies beyond the initial phase. Once immediate challenges are resolved, clients may be tempted to disengage, thinking they have solved their financial problems. At this stage, advisors have an opportunity to remind clients that, while the Fix phase addresses current challenges, there's more they can accomplish as they move forward and that this phase serves as a foundation for the deeper benefits of planning that come later.
The Fine Phase: Achieving Stability And Peace Of Mind
Once immediate issues have been addressed, clients typically enter the Fine phase, marked by relative calm and stability. Financially, clients may feel relieved and satisfied from overcoming their initial challenges, with a sense of confidence that their finances are under control. This phase is characterized by peace of mind, as clients shift from crisis mode to enjoying a more stable financial foundation.
However, the Fine phase can be a double-edged sword. While it may provide clients with a well-deserved respite, clients may not feel a need for regular check-ins. Instead, they may become complacent about updating their plan, putting off scheduled meetings with remarks like, "I'll call you if something comes up," or, "Let's just meet next year." While this attitude is understandable, it can stall progress and limit long-term opportunities.
Advisors can use the Fine phase to keep clients engaged by subtly shifting the focus from maintaining stability to exploring growth. For instance, asking clients about goals they've put on hold or exploring ways to optimize their current financial plans to achieve even more can help clients envision what lies beyond "Fine". By reframing the Fine phase as a bridge to the Flourish phase, the next stage, advisors can inspire clients to think and dream bigger beyond their current state.
The Flourish Phase: Going From Good To Great
The Flourish phase is where clients can experience the full potential of their financial planning journey. Having spent time in the Fine phase and enjoying the stability they've achieved, they are now ready to explore what it means to truly flourish financially and personally by reimagining their goals and pursuing new aspirations.
This phase focuses more on maximizing opportunities than on solving problems. Clients may set ambitious targets like achieving an early retirement, funding a passion project, or leaving a legacy for future generations. Advisors play a vital role in encouraging clients to see financial planning as a tool for achieving their dreams, not just managing money.
To make the most of the Flourish phase and deepen client engagement, advisors might offer special 'flourish meetings' designed to inspire creativity and explore what clients value most. These discussions might focus on questions that go beyond traditional financial metrics, delving more into what clients truly value and want to achieve. By encouraging clients to think creatively about their future, advisors can help them transition from a mindset of 'just enough' to one of abundance and possibility.
This phase also strengthens trust and loyalty, as clients see their advisor as a true partner in realizing their life's goals. By supporting clients as they move from "Fine" to flourishing, advisors create a sense of fulfillment that keeps clients engaged over the long term.
Embracing The Fix, Fine, Flourish Journey
The Fix, Fine, Flourish framework provides a clear roadmap for financial planning, guiding clients from crisis management to stability and, ultimately, to aspirational growth. Each phase serves a unique purpose, allowing advisors to meet clients where they are while encouraging them to explore greater possibilities.
By actively guiding clients through the stages of this journey, advisors can prevent complacency, deepen engagement, and reinforce the value of financial planning at every step. Whether addressing immediate issues, enjoying stability, or pursuing big dreams, the Fix, Fine, Flourish approach will ensure that clients receive the support and guidance they need as they continue to grow and thrive.
Helping Clients Thrive: Going From Fine To Flourish
While clients often begin a financial planning relationship in the Fix phase with an urgent issue they need help addressing, they naturally settle into the Fine phase after their initial problem is resolved and they reach a steady state of stability. At this stage, advisors face the challenge of moving clients from the Fine phase toward a new level of engagement – the Flourish phase. This transition isn't about waiting for something to go wrong; it's about proactively fostering a mindset of growth and aspiration, even when clients are already content. By transforming routine monitoring meetings into sessions that reignite excitement and curiosity, advisors can help clients see that financial planning is about more than just managing crises and staying the course; it can also be a resource for joy and inspiration.
If clients respond with "I'm fine" or "I'll call you in six months," it may be a sign that the monitoring meetings need a refresh. Instead of viewing these meetings as routine maintenance, reframing them as "flourish meetings" can inspire clients to explore new possibilities and set fresh goals where they can dream and strategize for what could make their lives even better.
Recognizing Growth: Acknowledging The "New Person" In The Room
As clients reach the Flourish phase, they're often in a different place than when they first began working with their advisor. New priorities, interests, and motivations emerge, reflecting their personal growth. Advisors may ask the same questions used in past meetings and notice that the responses are different, reflecting the client's personal evolution. They can acknowledge this evolution by recognizing that the client they're meeting with today is not the same person they met when they first met.
This approach aligns with the idea of the "End Of History Illusion", which suggests that while people anticipate change, they often underestimate the extent of their future evolution. Advisors can help clients break away from this tendency of limiting the possibility of future change by prompting clients to reflect on their past growth and consider how their goals or outlook may have shifted.
Prompts like "Let's explore where you are now and where you want to go from here" help clients consider potential changes and recognize financial planning as a dynamic process. And helping them see how the process will adapt to their changing lives (and that it's not just a static checklist of tasks), can be a powerful motivator for them to envision – and plan for – those future changes!
Proactive Preparation To Make Flourish Meetings More Impactful
Flourish meetings are most effective when they invite clients to envision change, think beyond the status quo, and explore what's possible. One way to prepare clients for these discussions is by sending an agenda and a set of thought-provoking questions in advance. While agendas are an effective way to offer space for clients to share recent life updates that affect their financial goals – such as shifts in career, family, or personal interests – they also invite clients to think about their aspirations, preparing them to engage more deeply during the meeting and to share their ideas about future possibilities.
The questions can be designed to help clients envision what 'great' looks like for them. For example:
- "What new goals or dreams have you been considering?"
- "If money weren't an obstacle, what would you change about your life?"
- "What changes or improvements would make you feel more fulfilled?"
These questions don't need to focus only on finances – they can also be about understanding what truly matters to the client. And when clients come to the meeting prepared with ideas about their goals and dreams, the session will be much more meaningful and energizing.
These questions also set the stage for conversations during the meeting. Advisors can build on the momentum created by agenda questions by inspiring clients to think about new possibilities rather than revisiting old concerns. Advisors can frame the conversation around maximizing opportunities, exploring interests, and making life more fulfilling by asking questions like the following:
- "What is something you've always wanted to do but haven't pursued?"
- "How can we use your financial plan to support experiences that bring you joy?"
By combining preparation with meaningful, exploratory conversations, flourish meetings encourage clients to view their financial plan as a tool for living their best lives, not just as a safeguard for emergencies. This helps clients see the value in proactive planning and motivates them to set goals that feel exciting and worthwhile.
Gathering Client Feedback To Refine Future Meetings
At the end of a flourish meeting, it can be helpful for advisors to ask clients for feedback on the session itself. Simple questions like, "How did this meeting go for you?" or "Did you feel inspired to think about new goals?" invite clients to express their feelings about the conversation. This feedback not only helps advisors refine their approach and tailor future meetings to each client's preferences but also reinforces the partnership aspect of financial planning.
When clients feel that they've been heard and that their input matters, they're more likely to stay engaged and look forward to future sessions while remaining open to new possibilities. This reflection process can create a sense of momentum, encouraging clients to view meetings as opportunities to explore their evolving aspirations.
The Ongoing Cycle Of Fix, Fine, And Flourish
One of the unexpected benefits of flourish meetings is that they can restart the cycle of the Fix, Fine, and Flourish process. When clients identify new goals or ambitions, they may encounter fresh challenges or adjustments that bring them back to the Fix phase – but this time with a proactive mindset. By continuously revisiting and refining their aspirations, clients will be less inclined to put off meetings with their advisors until a problem arises. Instead, clients are actively working with their advisors to ensure their financial plans evolve to make new dreams a reality.
This cyclical approach keeps clients engaged, as they see that financial planning is not a one-time process but an ongoing journey that adapts to the changes along their unique path of growth.
Advisors who embrace the Fix, Fine, and Flourish model create a client experience that is dynamic, inspiring, and meaningful. Through this framework, clients see that financial planning as a lifelong partnership – encouraging them to see their advisor as their partner in realizing their aspirations and achieving a life they truly love. Because it isn't just about reaching a destination; it's about becoming empowered to explore what's possible, pursue meaningful goals, and enjoy the journey every step of the way!
