When you think of a current or past financial advisor—or the one you’ve often thought you should hire but never did—how would you describe the way they interact with you? Are they selling to you, or are they simply working hard to understand you?
The answer to that question could mean the difference between reaching your financial goals… or not.
In the past—and if we’re being honest, even in some cases, today—many financial advisors considered it their mission to sell products. That meant trying to make their financial products fit into your needs. Their goal was to use you to increase their wealth, not yours.
At Curio Wealth, that’s not how we do things. We’re not here to sell you a product. Our mission is to help you use money to create the life you want, not the life we want. The best way we know of to do that is by asking lots (and LOTS) of questions!
But let’s back up. Let me fill you in on why we’ve made this our foundational concept, and what you can expect from working with us. If you’d prefer to watch rather than listen, take a look:
Dreams & Pursuits Are Deeply Personal
You might be surprised to learn that, as a financial advisor, I don’t follow all the standard advice. I don’t always take advantage of all the best tax strategies or save money all the time or make decisions based on the least amount of cost.
I use money the way it makes sense for me personally, to fuel my life. Now, my focus is on helping me and my family live a fulfilling life—having life experiences together and doing trips together. I view money as a tool to help me enjoy that life, and this goal guides my financial decisions.
But that wasn’t always the case.
Early on in my life, it was about just saving and accumulating and putting money in accounts without a specific purpose. Now, there is a clear purpose. It’s no longer just about saving as much as possible, which is why I don’t always do things “by the book.”
Everyone has different perspectives that influence their financial goals. For example, someone who’s struggled with cancer or other health issues may want to enjoy life a little bit more because they’ve experienced trauma and seen that life is short. Saving every last penny or saving on taxes may not be important to them. But living the life that they want, going on a trip, and spending time with friends may be the most important things to them. From the point of view of a financial advisor, it’s an important perspective to understand.
Digging Into Your Dreams
I said earlier that my dream as a financial advisor and a founder of Curio Wealth is to help you create your ideal life. We consider it our job to guide you in using your money in the way that’s right for you while incorporating strategies, techniques, and habits that will allow you to live the life you dream of.
We can’t do what’s right for you without understanding what’s important to you.
The only way we can figure that out is by asking a lot of questions. We work hard to uncover what’s important to you, figure out where you want to go, and understand your goals, your objectives, and your family. We tie all that into financial planning, investments, and taxes. Combining these three strategies will help you live the life you want to live and get to where you want to go.
A traditional relationship with a financial advisor and client is that the advisor is the expert in the room—and they know more than the client. They spend a lot of time sharing information that matches what they think the client needs.
Financial experts also tend to go into “fixing” mode. They hear a problem and, because they have information that could solve that problem, they start to share it immediately and abundantly. (And financial jargon is mandatory!) And while it’s really fun to share that information—I can’t disagree here—it really isn’t all that helpful to you, the client.
That ultimately creates a lot of, quite frankly, negative emotional feelings. There’s a sense of being judged. And so it’s hard for someone to accept advice and implement solutions when you feel talked down to or you feel small or unimportant.
Think about your own interactions with others and you can probably relate to this on a non-financial level. When someone comes to you with a problem, are you thinking of how to respond to what they’re saying, or are you listening to understand what they’re saying?
There’s a big difference:
Listening to understand is engaging with the information the person is providing, thinking about what questions you can ask to understand what they’re saying better.
Whereas listening to respond or to fix is thinking about what advice or information you have to share with them in order to fix their problem.
Not everybody wants to be fixed.
Some people want to be heard, they want to be understood, and they want to know that you care about what you’re doing. This quote captures the essence of this idea: Nobody cares what you have to say until they know that you care.
We’ve seen this sentiment played out many times, when clients who have hired other financial advisors later come to us and say, “Hey, we’re working with this person now and they have provided us this information—but we do not understand it, we don’t know what to do with it, and we don’t know what it means.
Think about that: They have a relationship with somebody; they’re paying that person for a service, yet they’re coming to us for understanding, interpretation, and advice. And so they’re essentially paying a double cost in a lot of situations because they need two perspectives—at least one from someone who cares.
We also often see advisors providing clients with thick, 20- to 30-page reports filled with advice that is technically correct and may offer some tax savings, but it’s not always in the best interest of the client. Taxes are important, but they may not be that important to someone at a particular moment in time—and spending money on the trip of a lifetime is.
And so it’s necessary for us to understand that in order for us to provide advice to people.
You Are The Expert On Your Dreams
At Curio, we feel that you are an expert on yourself. We strive to take in your expertise and provide advice around that.
Our conversations are joint conversations. We want to hear what you’re trying to say, and we want to give you guidance based on that. It takes a lot of active listening and reflection on what you’re saying. I personally enjoy engaging with couples and hearing both perspectives—being able to make joint decisions is a lot of fun.
Don’t get me wrong; understanding your personal financial situation, your assets, your liabilities, your income, your expenses—it’s all extremely important. And we do not dismiss those one bit. Quite frankly, we spend a lot of time gathering that information. But if we don’t understand where you want to go, how you are emotionally tied to this information and those resources, then we will not be able to provide you the advice you need to have.
Need help realizing your financial goals?
At Curio Wealth, we believe in guiding you on your financial journey, walking alongside you—not telling you what to do and how you should spend your money. We want to work alongside you, and go on the journey with you! We want to be there for you in the very difficult times and also celebrate the positives that you achieve in your life.
If you’re looking for a financial advisor who strives to understand what you’re trying to accomplish, and provide guidance and advice based on that understanding, we hope you’ll reach out to us at Curio Wealth. We look forward to meeting you!
