Meet Brian Kelly, Money Coach
November 23, 2015I recently had the chance to sit down with Brian Kelly, CFP®, an expert “money coach” and one of our more recent additions to the financial planner team and the Think Tank at Financial Finesse. I asked him a series of questions designed to find out more about how he became interested in joining our group of financial planning professionals who are committed to providing unbiased financial guidance to employees in the workforce. Here is a summary of our discussion with some unique insights about how an experienced financial planner uses an unbiased perspective to help others learn how to take control of their financial future:
What did you do before you joined Financial Finesse? More importantly, what inspired you to join Financial Finesse?
I was a financial adviser for the last 16 years. I started at UBS PaineWebber in 1999 and eventually went out on my own as Kelly Financial Strategies. My business focused around mostly middle-class families saving for retirement and other goals.
I loved what I was doing, especially the relationships and friendships I had built up with my clients. What I didn’t like was the selling of financial products and the selling of myself. Everywhere I went, I felt like I had to put on the “financial planner hat” and move the conversation towards an opportunity to solicit my services.
I found Financial Finesse through the CFP Board’s website. As a coach, the idea of coaching people through financial planning decisions excited me, and the fact that there are no conflicts of interest made me start to think about the industry in different terms. I started to internally analyze my business and the value I was bringing to my clients. Was I just a layer of fees as a middle-man to the money managers my clients were invested in or was I providing value by building financial plans and possibly enhancing client’s returns?
For most of my clients, I believe that I did provide value for the fees and commissions they were charged. I helped a lot of people prepare for retirement, send their kids to college and achieve other goals. I could see though, that people who really needed financial guidance were not feasible clients for me to pursue. Without substantial assets to invest, these people were being ignored.
I had no idea how difficult and thorough the interviewing process would be at Financial Finesse. Through a 7 or 8-step interviewing process, they seek to find the right financial planners to complement the excellent team of existing planners. As I see this process from the inside, I am humbled that I made it through. This motivates me to continue to learn and contribute to the success of this organization.
You coach youth sports. Do you see any commonalities between coaching sports and financial coaching?
I do, especially in the area of progression. When I coach a team, whether it’s baseball, football or hockey, we have to start with basic skills and work towards game-time and teamwork concepts. It’s similar in financial planning. There is usually one area that a person will call about, a problem they might be dealing with, but there are almost always other areas that are contributing to the problem like a budgeting or organizational issue.
What does the term “financial wellness” mean to you?
Financial wellness is about peace of mind for most people. Financial matters are the biggest stressor on American workers today because most simply do not have the tools or the confidence to plan without some type of guidance. Good financial wellness programs provide employees with the tools and the teaching for them to build plans for their future and to implement those plans.
I can honestly say that I have already impacted more people in the last four months at Financial Finesse than I did in the last 16 years as an advisor. Just helping people relieve some of their financial stress has been very rewarding. In particular, I like to coach people to learn so they are comfortable with their own financial planning decisions over time. After all, no one is or can be more interested in your financial success than YOU!
If you have any financial planning questions for Brian or the other members of our team of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals at Financial Finesse, just leave us your comments below or join the ongoing financial wellness discussion at our Facebook and Twitter pages.