This year, we’ve continued to enhance our holistic coaching approach by helping clients explore philanthropic giving as a force for good, while also incorporating discussions about health and wellbeing into our conversations.
The pursuit of positive change
In an era of growing wealth inequality, financial planners have a unique opportunity to help clients make meaningful social impact through strategic philanthropy. We have a history of supporting some clients in this area and now want to build on this, making it part of our strategy to develop a philanthropy advisory service. Our working group has been looking at how we can support clients in this.
As a B Corp, we feel it’s critical to develop our service to combine financial planning expertise with specialist philanthropic guidance. Some of our clients may never have given, give small amounts sporadically, give regularly through direct debit, or have given significant sums. We want to help them understand how much they can afford to give to help others in need.
To facilitate this, we have been working to establish external partnerships and to create a panel of specialist philanthropy advisers to support more complex giving strategies. We’re also equipping our team through training with the knowledge and language to confidently discuss philanthropy. This means we can offer varying levels of assistance based on client needs, such as basic guidance for occasional givers, strategic planning for substantial donations, and support in establishing charitable trusts or foundations.
This initiative complements our existing intentional and responsible investing services, creating a spectrum of options for clients seeking to create positive change.
As we continue to develop this service, once the training has been completed, our client managers will increasingly incorporate philanthropy discussions into annual client reviews. We’ll also create resources to support adviser-client conversations, explore community-building opportunities such as giving circles, and develop educational content and events.
“In a world of increasing inequality, thoughtful philanthropy represents a powerful tool for positive change. Our goal isn’t just to facilitate giving – it’s to help people give well.”
Health is wealth
Financial planning is no longer just about ensuring clients have enough money to live well. It’s about helping them live better, more intentionally, and with a clearer understanding of how health, wealth, and time intersect.
Discussing health issues is nothing new for a financial planner. We review and identify protection needs with clients, discuss long term care planning, and we cover longevity issues when it comes to exploring retirement planning and pension options. What we as a business are seeking to do, is to further extend this conversation.
In the same way that our discussions about philanthropy are reshaping client thinking about wealth, financial planning is also moving far beyond traditional number-crunching, cash flows and longevity calculations to embrace a more holistic approach to client well-being.
“We are pioneering a different way of coaching clients, integrating discussions about health into a broader life and financial conversation.”
We are engaging in deeper client conversations about longevity, lifestyle, and personal well-being, exploring factors like diet, sleep, and exercise, to create a more nuanced understanding of a client’s financial – and life – journey. This enables us to create a comprehensive strategy that supports financial security and quality of life, through partnerships and signposting clients to individuals that are best suited to help them.
To find out more, download our Impact Report 2024 – The next chapter.
