Good to Know

Good to Know Most firms decide how much service a client receives by looking at one number: assets under management. It’s clean, it’s easy to defend, and it’s often wrong. The client who pays you the most is not necessarily the client who needs the most — and building your calendar around AUM quietly over-serves…

Good to Know Most CFP® professionals read the Fitness Standards exactly once — years ago, on the way to the marks — and never again. The rules that decide who is fit to hold the certification feel like someone else’s problem right up until they aren’t. This year, that’s worth revisiting. On June 1, 2026,…

Good to Know Walk into almost any failed financial plan and you will rarely find a flawed spreadsheet. The asset allocation was reasonable. The tax strategy held up. The insurance recommendation fit the need. What went wrong happened after the meeting ended—in the quiet months when the client was supposed to act on advice they…

Good to Know Many planning failures are not technical failures. They are communication failures. A recommendation may be mathematically correct while still being poorly understood by the client. Complex conversations involving retirement income, taxes, estate planning, or long-term care frequently overwhelm clients with too much information at once. Behavioral finance research suggests information overload reduces…

Good to Know Longevity risk is commonly described as the danger of living longer than expected. In practice, the greater issue is living longer while relying on assumptions and withdrawal structures that no longer fit reality. Traditional retirement planning often assumes predictable spending declines, stable withdrawal behavior, and gradual healthcare inflation. Research from EBRI and…

Good to Know Most financial plans do not fail because of a catastrophic event. They fail because small assumptions quietly become outdated while the plan itself remains unchanged. Financial planning is ultimately projection-based. Advisors build recommendations around assumptions involving inflation, spending, returns, taxes, healthcare costs, and longevity.1, 2, 3 A retirement projection that appeared reasonable…

Good to Know When markets become volatile, clients notice.  They call.  They ask questions.  They want to act.  Advisors respond.  Plans are revisited. Portfolios are reviewed. Communication increases.  Volatility creates engagement.  Planning drift does the opposite.  It happens quietly. Gradually. Without urgency.  And over time, it can create more damage than any single market event. …