Advisors ask great questions. One minute you’re chatting about the weather and the next your client is telling you about her hopes, dreams and fears with a level of detail typically reserved for a therapist or best friend. Which got me thinking....how well could you answer the questions you ask your clients? In a recent study from the Financial Planning Association's Research and Practice Institute (RPI) more than 400 advisors were asked to share the one question that opened the floodgates for clients and got them talking about their lives and their hopes for the future. You can link to the full report here. Among my favorite client questions, offered up by advisors, are the following:

• You are retired. It is Wednesday morning at 10:30. What are you doing all day?
• If I ask you to think about retirement, what are three things that pop in your head?
• If I gave you all the money you'd ever need to live you life and I only required you to get up every day and do something that totally excites you, or fills your tank, but you didn't have to do it for the money, what would that be?
• If I had a magic wand, what are the three biggest financial problems I would solve for you?
• What are your intentions for this money...milk and eggs...tattoos and Harley's...or is this legacy money for your kids?
• If money weren't an issue, how would you live your life?
• In your ideal course for life, are you in the center of the lane, veering off the road, in the ditch, going the wrong direction?
• Tell me about your best financial decision and the one you most regret.
• Five or ten years from now, what sort of things would you like to have crossed off your list that would make you feel like you've accomplished something?
• What are some of the things you have wanted to do or you want to do that you have not been able to do so far in your life?
• What do you want to be remembered for after you are gone, i.e. what do you want your legacy to be?
• What is your biggest fear about money?
• What was money like to you growing up?
• What's the question you wish I would ask first?

As I read through the questions, I was intrigued. They were creative and thought-provoking. And, they are a reflection of the extraordinary value of professional advice in helping clients to define and reach their goals. That takes me back to my opening question. What if you were your own client? Could you answer those questions and does it matter? In another study from the RPI (The Future of Practice Management) 54% of advisors said they had clearly defined their own goals for retirement. At the time I wondered if advisors had no intention of retiring or a supreme sense of irony but neither seemed like a particularly ideal interpretation. Is it possible that many advisors, like many business owners, are so focused on the day to day of building a business, they have forgotten why they are doing it in the first place?

The Importance of Personal Goals

You know the critical importance of defining personal goals in contributing to an effective financial or investment plan. The same holds true for creating an effective business. If you don’t know your end game, why you are doing what you do and why you work so hard, your level of personal engagement will suffer. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a successful business but it may mean you won’t have a great business that ignites your passion. Fewer than half of advisors in another study I conducted, The Foundations of Success, said that business planning and goal setting were critical to success. I respectively disagree. Personal goals infuse business goals with meaning, they pump energy into your day and focus your attention like nothing else. Those goals might be focused on your family or something more material. No judgement here on what turns your crank; the key is knowing your ‘why’ to give you the energy for the ‘what’ and ‘how’.

Put Yourself In Your Client’s Seat

To help you begin to articulate your personal goals – or test if you could be your client – you can download your own What If I Were My Own Client Assessment. I’ve taken the questions I highlighted earlier and put them into a format that allows you to record your own thoughts. As you do, consider the following:

• Which questions were easy to answer and which were more difficult? If they were difficult is that because you haven’t thought about the issue or the question isn’t sufficiently focused?
• Do you have personal clarity? Based on your responses, are you clear on your own ‘why’? Do you know what you are trying to accomplish with your business?
• Are your goals sufficiently defined? Do you have very general goals that you have not visualized (e.g. what will you do the day you retire)? If not, consider getting specific to make your goals tangible.
• Have you shared your goals? Do you think your spouse or partner would respond in a similar fashion? What about your children?
• Is there is anything from this exercise that might help you engage your clients in more meaningful conversations by refining your own questions.

Financial advisors aren’t the first group of professionals who may not always take their own advice and they won’t be the last. There is a good chance you have a business plan. Now it’s time to create a personal plan.  Then sit back, hold on and watch how focused you become.