Psychology of Financial Planning

CHAPTER 16Client Values and Goals

What motivates you? What gets you out of bed and inspires you to do all the things you do on a normal day? It could be working to provide food and shelter for your family. Perhaps it is the search for love and affection from others. Some are driven to excel in a very specific area, one in which they have been studying and working for decades. Every human behavior can be explained by a basic set of basic needs. Those needs motivate our behaviors and some are more indispensable than others. Our fundamental physiological needs, such as food, water, and rest, can dominate our behavior if they are not being met. For example, children who suffer from hunger have an impossible time learning, as they are singularly focused on their lack of food. This is known as a scarcity mindset. As financial planners, we work on the front line of an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as they relate to their values and goals. We may be the only person who has ever asked someone, “What are your goals for the future?” or “What does success look like for you?” If we can better understand what motivates human behavior and how we establish goals (for ourselves and others), we can help clients identify and achieve their own goals.

MASLOW'S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

To get a glimpse inside the client's mind, it is helpful for a planner to be familiar with the concept of universal human needs. Psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a well‐known theory of motivation ...