‘Tis the season to get holly, jolly and helpful

For some of us, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. As we prepare to gather with friends and family for the holidays, we may feel a little more gratitude for what we have than we do during the other 11 months when we’re caught up in our hectic lives.
This is precisely why now is the best time for the editorial board to pull at your heartstrings a little with a call to service. Real service.
Financial advisers provide services to clients every day, but service goes beyond duties rendered for pay. Definitions of service in Merriam-Webster include: “contribution to the welfare of others,” “a helpful act” and “useful labor.”
The extensive financial knowledge you have acquired through many years of schooling and hard work is extremely useful. It helps people live their dreams, whether that’s starting a new business, sending a child to college, traveling the globe, enjoying a secure retirement or ensuring one’s legacy makes an impact in the world.
You matter. That’s one of the greatest human needs — somewhere just after water and love.
You can matter more.

FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE

Many advisers have found success and fulfillment in this industry and have reaped the financial rewards of their accomplishments. And many are generous with their own charitable donations and encourage clients in this pursuit. But that fountain of knowledge in your head is as valuable as what’s in your wallet, and it doesn’t deplete the more you share it.
Though we hear about rogue advisers stealing from the elderly almost daily, countless other upstanding advisers work for the good of clients they have come to know throughout their lives, and those they just met yesterday. Often your clients must meet a certain wealth profile to ensure your firm is profitable so you can take care of your own family as well. You have every right to define an A-List client and turn away those who are better-suited to a B- or C-List.

(Related read: Alexandra Armstrong: The importance of giving back to your community)

But helping someone outside your “client zone,” is simpler than you think. It also takes less time and mental energy than you might imagine — many of the people with the greatest need for financial advice could do with some budgeting guidance, not establishing intricate trust strategies for estate plans. They also will benefit from just knowing someone cares about their struggles.
As Jon Dauphiné, executive director of the Foundation for Financial Plannin, explained in an op-ed in last week’s issue, there are a variety of options and time commitments for those doing pro bono work.
Some advisers spend an hour a month, while others spend more than 10. Some prefer to hold group educational sessions, while others feel more helpful providing one-on-one guidance. And advisers can choose between doing single sessions with folks or multiple meetings over time.

JUST A CLICK AWAY

Finding a way to get involved is also right at your fingertips. The nonprofit Mr. Dauphiné heads is designed to do just that. Visit them at foundation-finplan.org to check out which programs — including those for veterans, domestic-abuse survivors and cancer patients — they’ve funded in your area, and sign up for their volunteer database.
Action and connection with people in your community pays itself back tenfold in meeting our basic human need to feel useful.
“I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.”

(Related read: INTV: Invest in Others: How advisers give back)

These words come from writer and activist Maya Angelou. We include them in the hopes you will keep this spirit of giving in mind throughout the year, not just during this special season but into the next one, too: After all, spring training for Major League Baseball is right around the corner.