1. What are the best ways to help clients define, specify, and prioritize their goals? What techniques have you found work or don’t work with clients?
2. Should financial planners be held to a fiduciary duty? Should we hold ourselves to that duty – even if we don’t have to?
3. Where do you think financial planners provide the most value to clients? How do you (or will you) communicate that value to your own clients?
4. What is your self-assessment of your technical and interpersonal skills? How can you improve on any deficiencies?
5. What are some examples of biases you’ve seen in your own practice (or, among people you know)? How did you or could you try to work around these biases? Many people struggle to budget; what, if any, budgeting strategies or tools have worked for you and your clients?
6. What are some recommendations you’ve heard for increasing one’s savings rate? It’s not always clear how to categorize a particular asset or liability (e.g., is a vacation home an investment or a personal use asset?). Have you run into issues like this in your own practice or personal life? What did you do and what informed your decision-making process?
7. Which financial planning approaches do you or will you use in your own practice? Why do you prefer those approaches over the ones you don’t use?
8. How strictly do you adhere to these ratios’ benchmarks in your personal life and when making recommendations? Can you provide examples of when it is best to stick with the benchmarks (or not)?