15 transformational advisers: George Kinder

As a tax accountant, George Kinder realized the importance of connecting with clients and discovering their passions, along with unearthing deductions that others would never find just by studying the numbers.
It’s that sort of thinking that laid the foundation for Mr. Kinder to help create the life-planning movement, where advisers learn what inspires a client before worrying about his or her risk tolerance or investment preferences.
Mr. Kinder, 65, said he moved into financial planning after seeing his accounting clients being charged outrageous fees for investment products that weren’t even appropriate for their needs.
“I wanted to make sure the whole financial planning piece was aimed directly at who the client wants to be,” Mr. Kinder said.
Today, many advisers agree with the importance of helping clients use their finances to follow their dreams, as opposed to planning just to improve their finances.
“George’s contribution has been huge, both to my personal development and that of the profession,” said Rick Kahler, president of Kahler Financial Group Inc. “It’s hard to see the life-planning movement being where it is today without his visionary leadership back in the ’90s.”
Mr. Kinder’s “Seven Stages of Modern Maturity” (Delacorte Press, 1999), served as a practical guide on how to ask the sort of personal questions that would reveal clients’ motivations and true goals.
The book probed for inspiration by asking questions such as, “If you had only five to 10 years to live, what would your life look like?”

PHOTO GALLERY 15 transformational advisers

His second book, “Lighting the Torch: The Kinder Method of Life Planning” (FPA Press, 2006) showed advisers how to take the answers from these personal conversations and develop a life plan for clients that goes beyond a financial road map.
In between publishing those two books, Mr. Kinder sold his advisory firm and created The Kinder Institute of Life Planning to work with advisers. The institute also oversees the curriculum for the registered life planner designation. About 2,000 advisers have been trained through the institute’s two-day program.
He also created the Nazrudin Project with Dick Wagner to develop the intellectual spirit of the financial advice business.
Mr. Kinder’s latest book, “Life Planning: A Banking Manifesto” (Serenity Point Press), is due in October. With co-author Mary Rowland, he lays out a vision for what the financial services industry must become to regain the public’s trust. He said the U.S. should move toward a single fiduciary standard for all financial advisers and brokers.
“When you have this movement to place client interests first, you have to do life planning,” Mr. Kinder said.