So Simple, Even a Four-Year-Old Gets It
Believe it or not, the illustration
on the previous page is based on something my daughter, Lydia,
and I made together. We were sprawled out on the floor with paper
and a box of crayons, and Lydia asked me to draw a house. With
artistic ability only a preschooler could love, I outlined it
for her: a square with a triangle on top.
Lydia started to color. First, she
made rooms within the square. When I asked her what those were,
she said, “Daddy, I’m making these places for my special
things.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“This one’s for my
stuffed animals . . . this one’s for my family . . . this
one’s for my . . .”
As we worked side by side (and Lydia
gave me instructions for which colors to use), I was reminded
of a “quilt chart,” a tool financial advisers use
to select investments—and something they usually show to
clients to explain various financial strategies. But in my experience,
without some helpful context, the quilt chart is usually just
another meaningless visual aid.
I started thinking, What
if thi house I’m drawing with Lydia could become an instrumen
for helping people get more out of the planning process? What
if I could turn this into a simple metaphor to which even a four-year-old
child could relate? What if we could talk about a “financial
blueprint” instead of the dull “financial plan”?
What if …? What if …?
The result was Your Financial House.
It brings all the aspects of financial planning—including
investments, retirement, estate arrangements, and more—under
one roof. And it does so in a way that anyone can understand immediately.
Here’s the gist:
If you’ve ever built a house or watched one go up, you know
a lot of forethought and personal taste went into the construction.
Before workers started pounding nails, running wires, installing
plumbing, or putting up drywall, the owner hired a builder. The
owner decided how many rooms there should be and explained how
they’d be used so architectural plans and detailed schematics
could be made. Then construction got underway.
Building Your Financial
House is no different.
As the client, you’re like
the owner, and your financial adviser is like the builder. The
first meetings cover important issues, such as your vision for
the house, how big the rooms should be, what you’ll be doing
in the house, even some of the building materials. Together, you
and your builder do the following:
1) Brainstorm what should be included
in your detailed plan, the “financial blueprint.”
2) Identify any existing strengths
and weaknesses in the current financial structure.
3) Get choices and solutions for
problem areas.
4) Understand how each room in Your
Financial House can be constructed to fit your life now and in
the future.
To help the builder understand who
you are and the kind of house you’d like, you talk about
the foundation first. What’s already there? What are the
features of the site where you’ll be building? Are there
impediments that need to be considered or particular areas that
you want to feature? Using a personal assessment tool called A.S.K.,
the builder prompts you to describe your anxieties, your strngths,
and the areas of knowledge you think you need to lessen those
anxieties and enhance your strengths. (A little different from
the “okay-let-me-see-your-portfolio-and-make-some-changes-today”
approach, isn’t it?) Only after the builder understands
these points is he or she ready to go to the next step, which
is to talk with you about each of the rooms of the house and,
ultimately, to create your financial blueprint. eWondering what
each of these rooms is all about?
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