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Alan Frank has worn a lot of different hats in 30 years in and around financial
services. He spent nearly 20 years at TD Bank working in financial planning, corporate
training and management. He later worked as an education manager for Credit Counselling
Services of Alberta and now serves as Financial Services Lead Instructor at Bow
Valley College in Calgary. Frank has also run his own money coaching consultancy
for a number of years. Be it as a financial educator, a financial planner, working
with individuals and couples or when facilitating classes and workshops, Frank has
found great utility in using Money Habitudes? cards.
Personal Breakthrough
Despite a career working with others' finances, Frank says that his biggest revelations
using Money Habitudes came from understanding himself and his own habits and attitudes
around money and how that played out at home.
Like many in his profession, Frank knows that he is methodical. He likes facts and
figures. He's organized and likes to have a plan. Not surprisingly, he saw these
traits reflected in his Money Habitudes type.
"When I did the cards, I think I was 90 percent Targeted Goals. I believed
that I was completely right and my other half ? who is much more Spontaneous and
likes to spend money ? was completely wrong. I'd always say, 'We have these goals
and we have this budget,' and all I kept hearing was, 'Well, I just want to travel
and have fun!' Because of the cards, we were able to discuss this issue so the concept
was, 'Ok, you want the fun and I can go with that, but let's build it within a targeted
financial goal. I'll handle the money to make sure that the budget is going to allow
for that. Then I feel comfortable and you're happy."
As it turns out, although most people say their ideal mate would be someone whose
money style is similar to their own, research shows that people tend to marry
their financial opposite.
Applying Personal Insights
Drawing on this personal experience, Frank realized what many financial advisors
don't: It's easy to look at a couple and see that one person is consciously or unconsciously
trying to impose his or her views on the other person ? but financial advisors can
fall into that trap as well by believing their views and values are, by default,
the right ones. That can be counterproductive but also turn off clients and prospective
clients.
"Probably the strongest personal growth part of me doing those cards myself was
to understand that I can't transfer my thoughts, ideas and beliefs as a financial
planner over to my clients. Just because I am geared and wired this way and believe
this is important does not necessarily mean that my clients are wrong in the way
they approach things. It was a great learning experience for me in a fun sort of
way," he says.
Frank tries to build that ethos into his courses for college students going into
the financial planning field. Thus, he has them use Money Habitudes to understand
not only how and why people as a whole look at money differently, but also to understand
how they themselves see money and how that may influence the advice they offer.
"After doing the cards myself, I don't find that I judge as much as I used to. I
really just understand where the client is coming from," he says.
Using Money Habitudes: Classes and Workshops
Frank has often built a 1-2 hour seminar around the Money Habitudes cards, focusing
on how people see money and how they use it. It is, he says, a very engaging, relevant
format.
"I really think you have to start the discussion by talking about what's important
to one another and to understand where each person is coming from. If you don't
do that, a budget's not going to work," says Frank.
He often has 30 people in his workshops, although he prefers the intimacy of smaller
groups.
"We really use the cards to get people to open up. We have a lot of fun because
it is a fun environment. So people say, 'Oh, I'm a big saver!' And another person
says, 'No, I spend all the time!' They're very open in the classroom, probably more
open than you would sometimes expect. Then people start to talk. The cards are just
one of the greatest ways to have people talk about money without being threatened
by talking about money," says Frank.
In some cases, he gives decks of Money Habitudes cards to the attendees to take
home so they can share this very meaningful exercise with a partner.
"I've had people come up to me after class and say, "You know I really need to go
home now and have a discussion with a spouse or a partner because this says a lot!
This can be why we're not talking or why there's this divergence between what I
think and what they think," he says, labeling the activity "an epiphany" for many.
After gaining such newfound clarity about their finances and relationships, some
attendees later ask him to work with them on an individualized coaching basis.
Using Money Habitudes: Individuals and Couples
Similar to how Frank used Money Habitudes in his own relationship, he also uses
the cards when coaching couples.
"I was doing some money coaching recently with a couple and they were definitely
on opposite sides of the fence. There was no way I was going to get the husband
to express his feelings or attitudes towards money. Although he was dominating the
conversation, it was quite clear that this conversation was not going to have a
productive ending. So I pulled out the Money Habitudes cards
and had them both do them. It was really non-threatening and it finally gave us
the common ground to start from. The cards are such a great, safe way of broaching
the subject," says Frank.
Realizing that individuals are not going to radically change who they are and how
they view and handle money, Frank uses the action tips from the Money Habitudes
cards to help people make small, incremental changes. It may help savers loosen
their grip on money a bit and go out for dinner or it may help spenders pass up
a big sale so together they move to what Frank says is "more common ground and a
better understanding of each other."
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