Guest: Saundra Davis, the Founder and Executive Director of Sage Financial Solutions, an organization that develops comprehensive financial capability programs for low- and moderate-income communities throughout the United States. Saundra is a U.S. Navy veteran, financial coach, educator, and consultant who is nationally recognized as an expert in the financial coaching field and for her work with community-based organizations that focus on asset-building for the working poor. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Financial Planning from Golden Gate University, where she is currently a distinguished adjunct professor in the Personal Financial Planning program.
In a Nutshell: The most important part of the discovery process is what clients discover about themselves, not what you discover about them. To facilitate those moments of realization that can have a profound effect on someone’s financial future, advisors have to be willing to go on a journey of self-discovery themselves.
On today’s show, Saundra Davis and I discuss how curiosity, learning, mastery, and growing can create more meaningful relationships with your clients and lead to more positive outcomes.
.Saundra Davis and I discuss:
- How her difficult childhood shaped Saundra’s feelings about money and her path towards becoming a financial professional.
- The connection between money, security, and satisfaction.
- Should advisors encourage clients with means to spend more and enjoy themselves more?
- Using a coaching framework to help clients improve their relationships to money.
- The danger of taking responsibility for a “hero role” in your clients’ lives.
- Why no advisor can force a client to take action they’re not ready for, and how to get them to ready.
- The difference between discovery and data collection.
- Why you need to have compassion for yourself before you can have compassion for your clients.
- Helping clients reframe the stories they tell themselves about money.
- Why Saundra believes people don’t really have “financial goals.”
- How Saundra’s “Why?” has evolved throughout her career.
- What a teacup without a handle teaches Saundra about navigating her impulses and living in the moment.
