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"I now find that having met with a new client over a couple of sessions and several hours, I wish that each and every one of them would have prepared themselves by working through Steps 1 - 8 of the Life Business™ Program."

Jerry Bergner, Financial Planner

 

Thank you for your interest in our work and Life Business™ Financial Planner Certification.

Financial planning today

There is a growing movement in the United States among progressive financial planners who realize their clients, especially baby boomers, are searching to integrate their life and financial plans in a more holistic way. Many of these financial planners, especially "fee only" planners, have developed tools and approaches that have begun to create a more meaningful dialogue with clients that place financial and investment decisions in service of their clients' lives.

At the same time, it has been difficult to merge effectively the fields of personal life planning with the business model constraints found within the financial planning industry. These include the time and skill for financial planners to do an adequate job of life planning within their current practice models.

In some ways, the financial planners have been working at a disadvantage to help their clients discover their life goals so they can adequately create a financial plan. A better model is for the client to approach the financial planner with a clear and compelling life plan that seeks financial advice and products to enable this. In this way, the financial planner can devote their expertise and skills where they are trained to produce the most value for clients.

The Life Business™ Program provides the processes and tools to bring clients' life plans and needs together with financial planners' skills around a metaphor, a shared language and set of principles. And this work can be completed without the financial planner's intensive time investment and counseling skills needed in creating life plans.

The Life Business™13-Step process has been refined over the past 20 years by adapting the best thinking from successful businesses and personal development experts. The result in a robust, comprehensive approach that guides clients in creating a heartfelt life plan and in preparing a platform for building a mutually satisfying, long-term relationship with a financial planner. The following matrix provides a more detailed analysis of how the Life Business™ Program can fill a gap in the current practice of life and financial planning.

 

Life Business Steps	Goals of Life Business™ Program Steps	Value to Financial Planner	Tools and Techniques to Support Steps
Steps 1-8 Personal wealth creation means living better, sooner.	Steps 1-8 are the foundation of the Life Business™Program. Using business-like tools, clients establish and ground themselves in the Life Business™ metaphor and process. Our process begins with an in-depth and honest look at current commitments, values, satisfaction and aspirations and moves on to the clarification of short, medium and long-term goals for improved life satisfaction. Clients consider how they currently "spend" the currentices of their lives - time, money and energy - and how these resources could be better "invested" to achieve their goals, short-, medium-, and long-term. Steps 1-8 provide the basis for clients' understanding of their current and future time, energy and financial requirements.	Clients will ... have developed a heartfelt portfolio of "Life Businesses" that reflect their personal values, aspirations, and goals. be prepared to articulate financial concerns and needs in the context of developing these Life Businesses. be able to give their financial planner a running start on a meaningful, long-term relationship by helping the planner understand their client's real concerns, expectations and hopes. be ready to begin the next steps of the Life Business™ Program - cash flow budgeting and building an integrated life and financial plan.	Steps 1-8 are supported by an Excel and/or hardcopy workbook that allows clients to work through these steps independently. Unique Life Business™ tools include: four part "Annual Business Planning Cycle." clarification of client "Internal Management Teams." "Where Got, Where Gone" personal energy analysis. "Return on Life Investment" discipline, methodology and accounting distinction between "Life Businesses and Support" activities "Strategy Matrix" to determine which Life Businesses to Build, Maintain, Close or Create. Life Business™project development. One of the issues that financial planners face in integrating life planning into their practices is determining a time and fee structure for helping clients create a comprehensive life plan. The Life Business™ Steps 1-8 Excel application makes it possible for clients to prepare themselves for life-based financial planning BEFORE they meet with their financial planner. However, if desired, the financial planner can conduct 1-Day workshops covering Steps 1-8 with their clients. This has been an attractive option with fee-only planners. Complete materials and protocols are available.
Steps 9-13 Creating personal wealth means managing for cash flow NOT accumulation	Steps 9-13 help the client apply sound financial principles in order to bring satisfaction forward in their lives using cash flow financial planning strategies. They also teach the client to align their budget with their dreams and Life Businesses™ and distinguish between Life Business™ investments and Support costs. Finally, clients develop a time, energy and financial plan moving their dreams and projects forward.	Clients with their financial planners will ... be ready and motivated for a rich dialogue about their goals, budgets and planning time frames. This discussion will culminate in decisions about the insurance products and financial placements needed to make their plan work. continue and deepen their financial planner relationship based on a dialogue grounded in their values, goals and projects anchored in a shared set of principles and a common language.	Steps 9-13 are supported by an Excel workbook that allows the client to work through these steps with the financial planner's guidance. Unique Life Business™ tools include: the realization that businesslike budgets exist essentially to enable goal achievement, not to limit expenditure "12-month Forward Rolling Project Budgets" "3-year budgeting windows" for couples "Cash Flow Budgeting" discipline and methodology "Zero in the Last Cell" discipline and methodology "4% Life Investment" discipline and methodology estate preparation Commonly available software tools (e.g. Quicken) and also new smart phone apps such as My Expenses seamlessly dovetail with our Life Business™ tools and can support the client in budgeting and tracking asset levels and expenses as they pursue the achievement of their plans. Other Life Business™ tools and client investment decisions can be better understood in collaboration with a financial planning professional, especially one that is trained in the Life Business™ program and methodology. Also, Life Business™ tools can be used in conjunction with any of the widely available, "Am I Going to Outlive my Money?" exercises.

The Life Business™ Financial Planner Certification program is a 4-Day process.

• Evening before Day 1 - General introduction to Life Business™ and the members of Team Life Business™ (Chapel Hill, North Carolina or as arranged)
• Day 1 – Participation in the 1-Day Life Business™ Workshop, Steps 1-8 Life Exploration and Centering (Chapel Hill, North Carolina or as arranged)
• Day 2 – A one-to-one, all day tutorial with one of our senior coaches in the use of the Life Business™ Excel application, Cash Flow Budgeting.
• Day 3 – Co-training a 1-Day Life Business™ Workshop, Steps 1-8 Life Exploration and Centering (To be marketed and managed by the certification candidate and to take place in the certification candidate’s home market)
• Day 4 – Lead training (with the assistance of a certified Life Business™ Coach) a 1-Day Life Business™ Workshop, Steps 1-8 Life Exploration and Centering (To be marketed and managed by the certification candidate and to take place in the certification candidate’s home market)  

Certified Life Business™ Financial Planners will benefit from having:

• their photo, life story, and email contact representation on our web site
• their web/blog sites linked to our web site
• client leads forwarded from our web site
• client leads forwarded from our advertising
• certified Life Business™ Financial Planner banner, logo, calling card and stationary prototypes.
• the right to use the trademark Life Business™ and the denotation Certified Life Business™ Financial Planner in any and all written, web and verbal communication
• the right to use our written workbook and our Excel Steps 1-8 ….and Excel Cash Flow Budgeting electronic applications in training, consulting and coaching work
• follow-on support from the network of Certified Life Business™ Coaches and Financial Planners on an as-requested basis

Cost of Life Business™ Financial Planner Certification (replace side box with this)

• Day 1 – Participation in the 1-Day Life Business™ Workshop, Steps 1-8 Life Exploration and Centering (Chapel Hill, North Carolina or as arranged) –
$175. including a copy of our book.

• Day 2 – A one-to-one, all day tutorial with one of our senior coaches in the use of the Life Business™ Excel application, Cash Flow Budgeting.
$650.

• Day 3 – Co-training a 1-Day Life Business™ Workshop, Steps 1-8 Life Exploration and Centering (To be marketed and managed by the certification candidate and to take place in the certification candidate’s home market)
Cost for Life Business™ Lead Trainer: $850. plus travel, food and 1 night’s hotel expense – Certification candidate keeps the proceeds from the event.

• Day 4 - Lead training (with the assistance of a certified Life Business™ Coach) a 1-Day Life Business™ Workshop, Steps 1-8 Life Exploration and Centering (To be marketed and managed by the certification candidate and to take place in the certification candidate’s home market)
Cost for Life Business™ Co-Trainer: $850. plus travel, food and 1 night’s hotel expense - Certification candidate keeps the proceeds from the event.

• Life Business™ Financial Planner Certification renewal fee payable annually on June 1. $1250.

 

We would be pleased to answer any questions you might have about this process.

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