Media Archives 2006

December 21, 2006
Morningstar Advisor

Life Planning for Middle America
When writer David Drucker heard about a financial planner following the Garrett Planning Network’s blueprint for serving Middle America and also giving her clients the benefit of life planning, he had to find out how she was doing it.  Kathryn Nusbaum, working with her husband, Bob, in their Pittsburgh firm Middle America Planning, Inc., told Dave that they received life-planning training from the Kinder Institute and how they apply it daily in their work with clients. Read full article now.

November 23, 2006 –
Citywire, London UK

Listening to Clients
by Lauren MacGillivray Jeremy Deedes, a financial advisor who practices near York in the UK, is profiled in this article that spotlights how his service philosophy and skill set differs from the average financial planner. Deedes is on track to in March 2007 become the first Registered Life Planner™ in the UK. Deedes helps the Kinder Institute arrange workshops in England. Read the article now.

November, 2006 – Cover Story, Practical Accountant magazine

What’s Different about Holistic Financial Planning? by Howard Wolosky

Some planners, especially with regard to retirement planning, are taking a so-called “holistic approach” to counseling clients. A great deal of time may be spent exploring the individual’s lifestyle, what makes them happy, and how they picture the “perfect” retirement. Susan Galvan, co-founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, and Kevin McGirr, a CPA and financial planner who has trained with the Kinder Institute, weigh in on how their brand of holistic financial planning is different. “It’s not just a menu item to Kinder-trained life planners,” says Galvan. Read the entire article now.

October 24, 2006 – Investment News

Heart of Financial Planning Awards Bestowed by Aaron Seigel

At a special awards dinner gala, the Financial Planning Association honored seven individuals, one firm and one chapter with its first ever Heart of Financial Planning Distinguished Service Awards. The silver plated heart statuettes were presented at the FPA’s annual convention October 21-23 in Nashville. Tenn. George Kinder, CFP®, co-founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, was honored for his work on The Seven Stages of Money Maturity workshop, and for promoting the life planning movement. The eight other honorees were: Ross Levin, Gary A. Morris, Nancy Schwartzmiller, Bonnie Stanley; Bob Veres, Scott Fithian, Blankenship & Foster and the FPA of New York-Pro Bono Committee. Read more here.

July 24, 2006 – BusinessWeek, Special Retirement Issue

A Course in What Next? by Ellen Hoffman

In the course of a lifetime, people pick up the knowledge and skills to build careers and raise families. But not much of that prepares them for life in retirement. Writer Ellen Hoffman says: “One way to seek answers is to find a life planning adviser, whose goal is to integrate lifestyle decisions with financial planning. (Check the Kinder Institute listings for Life Planning practitioners, at planner.kindernew.com.” She also quotes Peg Downey, a Registered Life Planner® who trained at the Kinder Institute, and provides an example of work Peg did with a group of women to prepare them for retirement.

May 6, 2006 – The Oregonian

Retiring? Think Beyond Money: by Julie Tripp

“Lee Eisenberg wrote a whole book, and I’m about to write an entire column, about why it’s futile to try to divine The Number — the amount of money you need to save before you can retire comfortably — without first considering non-money issues,” says writer Julie Tripp. Eisenberg doesn’t really want you to do a quick-and-dirty worksheet at all, so he puts his at the end of the book (the worksheet was created with the help of George Kinder, CFP®). Whether you get your number from Kinder’s worksheet or an online interactive worksheet, it should only be the starting point for your retirement planning. It’s far from the end of what you need to consider. Eisenberg uses lessons learned from George Kinder, whose Kinder Institute teaches financial planners how to stimulate out-of-the-box thinking in their pre-retirement clients by asking the right questions and listening well to the answers. (For a list of planners who have taken his training, Click Here)

April 16, 2006 – Chicago Tribune and other Syndicated Newspapers

Life Planners Put Finances in Perspective by Janet Kidd Stewart

If you grapple with balancing the demands of the day with planning for the future, you are not alone. This article provides real-life examples of how properly trained life planners help their clients be fiscally prudent while also realizing their big-picture dreams. “This is about inspiring people to live the best lives they can live,” says one of the life planners profiled. How does one find an adviser who looks into your soul before crafting an asset allocation strategy? “You can locate potential planners from a directory on the Kinder Institute’s website (planner.kindernew.com)” says the author. And be sure to “ask prospective life planners to describe in detail how they work with clients and whether they have any special training in life planning,” she adds. “Don’t be shy about asking advisers for specifics about how the life-planning approach changed their own lives. You may get some insight into where they’re coming from. If you hear stammering, head for the exits,” the author cautions. Read the entire article now.

February 2006 – Wealth Manager magazine

Got Your Number? by Ellen Uzelac

“Books can make you think about money, and how it relates to your life, in new ways,” says the writer. “Often, unfortunately, these are the wrong ways…” But Lee Eisenberg’s book, The Number,  belongs alongside Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink and Steven Levitt’s Freakonomics, she says. “Think of The Number not as a financial how-to guide but as a call to arms.” According to the author, here is a key question you really need to answer before you ever sit down with a financial planner: What do I want to do and how much money do I need to do it? The author relates his experience of meeting George Kinder, CFP®, and of taking his 2-day workshop called The Seven Stages of Money Maturity. “I was profoundly moved by his intelligence and how right he was, at least theoretically, about what we really need to be thinking about before we can be worrying about how much money we need.” At the end of the book, Eisenberg offers a financial formula for coming up with “your number” proffered by none other than George Kinder

January 9, 2006 – TIME magazine, Inside Business

The Rest of Your Life by Lee Eisenberg Planning isn’t only about finances. It’s also about your search for meaning Money–and how much of it you have saved–is usually the first thing people think of when they plan for retirement. But planners these days look beyond finances and ask instead about a client’s dreams for the future. In a new book, The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life, Lee Eisenberg explores how you can shape your financial future so you will be able to achieve and afford what you value most. We offer an excerpt: Article

January 4, 2006 – MSNBC.msn.com/Personal Finance

Working past 60 is not always about the money by Gayle Ronan “We tend to think of retirement as playing golf in Florida. But when people talk about what they want to do with the rest of their lives, that rarely comes up,” says Kinder.  His work led him away from emphasizing the monetary aspect of retirement planning — the formulaic “you must have this amount saved by such and such a date to have this amount of income for retirement” — to focusing on what people are actually living for.  Article