Client Priorities
In a study clients were asked what their priorities were with their financial advisor. Here were their top six priorities:
- Understand my situation
- Educate me
- Respect my assets (no matter how small)
- Solve my problem – don’t sell me product
- Monitor my progress
- Keep in touch
Take note that all six of these priorities are relational in nature. People desire a stronger relational bond with the individual who is helping them to determine their financial destiny. Making a favorable impression as human being supersedes making a favorable impression as an advisor in the eyes of the client. Your personality and method of relating is going to have a pivotal emotional impact – one way or another.
The film Good Will Hunting (1997) serves as a poignant illustration of the idea that professional guidance is primarily a relational endeavor. Will Hunting, a young janitor at MIT with a genius-level intellect and a deeply troubled past, is forced into therapy as a condition for avoiding jail. Initially, Will treats his sessions as a game, using his brilliance to dismantle the psychologists assigned to him. He is looking for a transaction—a way to satisfy a legal requirement—while the system treats him as a product to be “fixed” or “exploited” for his math skills.
Enter Sean Maguire, a therapist who refuses to play by these rules. Sean does not attempt to “sell” Will a life path or lecture him on his potential. Instead, he shares his own story, showing vulnerability and establishing a human connection. In their most famous session, Sean sits on a bench and speaks not as a superior, but as a person who has lived, suffered, and loved. He recognizes that Will’s intellectual defenses are merely a shell for profound, inherited wounds.
The turning point occurs when Sean drops the pretense of the “expert” and simply validates Will’s existence. He doesn’t just monitor progress; he respects Will’s reality. By moving from a clinical, distant approach to one of genuine empathy and consistent presence, Sean provides the relational safety Will needed to finally face his own “financial and personal destiny.” The film masterfully shows that while Will had all the raw talent in the world, it was only through being “seen” by a trusted mentor that he could finally begin to heal.
Telling the Financial Story 