Media Archives 2000
March 2000
Research Magazine
Profiles in Success: “Kinder and Gentler”
by Ellen Uzelac
This two-page profile is worth reading from start to finish.
________________________________________________________________________
March 2000
Financial Planning Magazine
Nifty at Fifty
By Donald J. Korn
Dick Wagner’s departure from his firm was no midlife crisis. In a performance-mad profession, he decided to give peace a chance. Influenced largely by George Kinder, a financial planner who has long incorporated life-planning principles into his own practice, Kinder’s basic philosophy appealed to Wagner. “There is another way of living with money, a way of both acknowledging money’s useful roles, and also finding a way to connect with our most profound aspirations around money, our deepest ideals, our most difficult emotions, our darkest places, as well as our joys, putting it altogether and understanding what all of our humanness has to do with our relationship to money.”
Says Kinder: “We’re missing something when we focus only on spreadsheets. When we look upon money as a means for people to achieve their dreams, we are far more productive as planners. Helping clients to achieve those goals can be richly rewarding.” Such potential rewards motivated Wagner to establish his new firm. “He’s moving toward a more personal relationship with clients,” says Kinder, “High-touch as well as high-tech. This is the cutting edge of financial planning; showing clients that planners really care for them.”