Your doctor client says that he wants to accelerate wealth-building. What do you advise?
You would love to say, “Spend less!” But that can be a bitter pill for your client to swallow.
Further, your clients may tell you that for them, budgets work about as well as deprivation diets.
Here’s another approach.
Step #1: Invite your clients to imagine the life they are trying to achieve.
Step #2: invite your clients to explore with curiosity their spending habits. Have them track their spending, and ask them to identify what they were hoping to achieve with the purchase. Here are a few choices:
- Be happier
- Reward themselves
- Buy time
- Alleviate stress
- Feel more secure
- Feel less lonely or bored
- Say, “I love you”
- Be admired and respected
- Play and have fun
- Meet an obligation
- Lend a helping hand to a relative or friend
- Support a cause
- Live their values which includes philanthropy.
Instruct your client to simply observe behaviors, and resist the urge to judge, criticize or make character assessments.
Step #3: Recognize that they spend because it works! Explore alternatives ways of achieving the same goals. Ask, “What could you do when you’re stressed/ lonely/ bored/celebrating besides spending?”
What have you found most helpful as you try to empower your clients change their money-related behaviors and habits so they get better outcomes?