Featured in the Wall Street Journal
In this weekend’s edition of the Wall Street Journal there is a thoughtful article titled “A Therapeutic Approach to Financial Planning” that highlights the budding movement of integrating emotional and psychological aspects of one’s life into the financial planning process. Our approach at Laminar Wealth, while not therapy, falls into that spectrum and piqued the interest of WSJ journalist, Anne Tergesen, who asked to interview me for the article.
During our forty-five minute interview we discussed among other things, how our discovery process focuses much more on life aspirations than bank statements; how we see financial planning as a tool to not only build greater wealth, but also a more meaningful life; and how building a financial plan that places one’s dreams at the center compels action around the whole financial picture.
At Laminar, we refer to the work we do as Financial Life Planning, because it merges your money with your life in a meaningful way. While our process can certainly be therapeutic, it is not therapy. Our goal is simply to help clients realize their life aspirations and then craft a financial plan that can make it a reality with appropriate financial architecture. To us this is just financial planning done right!
The reason some clients and practitioners call it “therapeutic" is that the discovery process and delivery of the plan is often so insightful and inspiring that clients experience a sense of renewed freedom and passion. This cathartic experience often melts away many of the obstacles that had been holding them back from articulating and pursuing the life they truly want.
I encourage you all to read the WSJ article and would love to hear your thoughts. It’s very exciting that the idea of Financial Life Planning is starting to get widespread exposure, and even more exciting to be at the forefront of it!
If you don’t get the print edition of the Wall Street Journal, you can access it online. If the link takes you to the WSJ “pay wall” try googling “A Therapeutic Approach to Financial Planning” and access the article from the link in the search results.
Posted: August 1, 2015