Action idea – Work through disagreements

Need to get your clients to work through disagreements. Try this technique:

Give each member of a couple a pad and ask them to write down their financial goals (or do this ahead of time and have them email or mail them to you). Arrange for your assistant to process some routine paperwork with the couple while you go away and look over what they’ve written down. If the couple’s planning to have children, that’s a good place to start the savings discussions since parents are wired to place their kids’ needs ahead of their own. Or, if the couple doesn’t yet own a home, but wants to, capitalize on that common goal to get them to work toward other areas of agreement on how to save, spend and invest.