I found out awhile ago that most people would rather go to the dentist [nothing against dentists] than engage in what they think is “financial planning.” In fact, if I am on a flight and I want to be left in peace to get some reading done, I have found that if the person next to me asks what I do for a living and I tell him that I am a financial planner that pretty much seals the deal: peace and quiet for the rest of the flight.

Why is that?

Part of the reason is that there is no name, industry, or designation for someone that provides ongoing financial advice. There are groups that do a great job, like NAPFA, fi360, and C.F.P Board, but there are plenty of great advisors that don’t belong to any of these groups.

For the most part, the Real Financial Planning industry is still secret. But it is crystal clear that people have had enough of the financial plan industry.

As the stock brokerage business and insurance sales industry started to decline, it started a race to become the primary advisor. Now even bank tellers have been trained to ask you about financial planning, with everyone trying to get to one place…the primary family advisor. I have been at industry conferences where selling plans was part of an overall strategy to gain an increasing “share of wallet.”

The result is predictable.

When you take salespeople and reward them for selling financial plans, they do it. All of this has created a focus on the product called a financial plan, at the expense of those of us engaged in the process of planning.

Putting a name on this process is challenging. I feel like I have had an identity crisis for a decade. I don’t know what to call myself. In fact, some of the best financial planners don’t even use the term “financial planning” to describe what they do. They have tried “advisor,” “wealth manager,” and even “family CFO.” These all get close, but putting a name on it is really tough.

It’s a bit like the Supreme Court’s original attempt to define obscenity. In 1964, Justice Potter Stewart said that he “would not today attempt to define it…” and then the famous quote:

But I know it when I see it.

People who have found a trusted family advisor that they are happy with will tell you that it is a great thing. It might sound old fashion, but they describe it by using words like trust. In the end, it is really about putting the interests of the client first, even (and especially) when it is in conflict with the advisors.

It is about being the kind of person that someone else would trust with her mother’s money…

So while it may be hard to define when it is done correctly, Real Financial Planning changes peoples lives.