Value-Based Financial Advice – The Finextra Wealth Approach

Finextra Wealth’s values-based financial advice focuses on understanding your unique values, beliefs, and goals, and using that understanding to create a financial plan that aligns with those values.

Here’s an example of how our values-based advice works:

Meet Jane, a 35-year-old teacher who is starting to think about her long-term financial goals. She wants to make sure that her money is working towards things that are important to her, but she’s not sure where to start.

Jane meets with Finextra Wealth financial adviser Heath Hebenton, who starts by asking her questions about what matters most to her. Jane talks about her desire to positively impact the world and her belief in the importance of education. She also mentions that she would like to stop working early and travel the world.

Heath helps Jane to identify her core values as “making a positive impact”, “education”, and “adventure”. With that understanding, Heath then creates a financial plan for Jane that reflects those values. For example, Heath suggests that Jane invest in companies that align with her values of making a positive impact, such as renewable energy or socially responsible companies. They help her to set up a long-term savings plan because Jane also talked about stopping work early and travelling the world.

Although Jane is still young, Jane knows that retirement planning can never start soon enough.

Financial planning is a process, so Heath continues to check in with Jane to ensure the plan stays aligned with her values and goals. As Jane’s life and values change over time, Heath works with her to adjust the plan. This is a financial life plan.

In this example, values-based advice helped Jane clarify her values, beliefs, and long-term goals, and align her financial decisions with things that truly matter to her.

Finextra Wealth’s approach is built on the belief that understanding your values, beliefs, and goals is crucial in creating a financial plan that truly fits with your vision for your life.

A values-based financial plan can lead to several benefits:

• Increased clarity: A values-based financial plan helps individuals clarify what is truly important to them and what they want to achieve with their money. This can help make better financial decisions and avoid regrets.
• Greater satisfaction: When an individual’s financial decisions align with their values, our clients are more likely to feel a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. This can lead to overall greater satisfaction and fulfilment in life.
• Alignment with personal beliefs and ethics: Values-based investing allows individuals to align their financial decisions with their personal beliefs and ethics. This helps clients feel more in control of their financial situation and more motivated to achieve their financial goals. It can be particularly important for people who want to ensure their money is not supporting causes or companies they find morally or ethically objectionable.
• A successful plan: When life goals align with beliefs, your financial life plans are more likely to succeed. A financial plan may require some discipline, but success is achievable if we believe in what we want to achieve.

Overall, a values-based financial plan is crucial for helping individuals make financial decisions that align with what is truly important to them, which can lead to greater satisfaction and fulfilment and better outcomes in the long term.

At Finextra Wealth, helping you clarify your values typically begins with a discovery phase, where the adviser works with you to identify and understand your core values and personal goals.

We use a variety of techniques:

• Asking open-ended questions: Advisers may start by asking questions about priorities and what you want to achieve in your life, both financially and non-financially. These questions are general in nature and can help you think about your core values in a broader sense. Questions such as: “Where do you think you will be in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years?”, “What plans do you have for when you stop work?”
• Using value clarification exercises: The adviser may use tools such as value clarification worksheets, which can help you to identify and prioritise your values. These exercises can include questions like “What are the things that are most important to you in life?”, “What are your top 5 values?” and “What values do you want to align with your financial decisions?”
• Offering reflective prompts: The adviser may also use reflective prompts to help explore your values. These prompts can include statements such as “Imagine that you had unlimited resources. What would you want to do with them?” and “Think about a time in your life when you felt truly fulfilled. What was important about that experience?”
• Reflecting on past experiences: The adviser may also encourage you to reflect on your past experiences, such as asking about a time when you felt fulfilled or a life decision you were proud of. This can help identify the values that were important in those experiences.

Once the values have been identified, the adviser works with you to create a values-based investing plan that aligns with your beliefs. The adviser will also help align your spending and savings habits with your values and goals, and ensure that the financial plan is flexible enough to adapt as your life and values change.

In summary, values-based advice is a process that we use to help align financial decisions to your values and long-term goals. Finextra Wealth uses this approach to create a financial life plan that matches what is important to you. Book a free call with us today to discuss your value based approach.