A Message From Janet

A personal message from our founder:

In 2010, I realized the power of developing a Life Vision, and how it can offer the possibility of changing a client’s life for the better.

I had been a financial advisor for several years when a couple was referred to me by their CPA. The husband was disabled recently and was told by his doctors he did not have long to live. Since the disability, the couple struggled to deal with one medical emergency after another. More distressing, they had not given any thought to the family’s life once the husband completed his journey.

It occurred to me that what we should talk about was what she would do and think about how we could put the pieces in place so she could manage life once they got through the struggles they were dealing with.

If I could help her envision her life after the husband’s passing, it could help reduce her anxiety. By working through her husband’s likely path, it could help her deal with the struggles today. It might even help lower the husband’s stress as well. He would worry about his terminal condition, of course, but might worried less about what would happen to his wife and family after his passing. Drafting her “life vision” for after he was gone could show them both that their family would be OK.

Focusing on a vision of the future could enable them to think more clearly. Writing a “life vision plan” for the wife after her husband’s passing could help us discover ways to make their financial life much better until then.

The experience changed my approach to financial planning. I realized that providing the numbers based, almost clinical, financial planning services that most advisors offer is fine for clients whose situation is stable. But clients facing a big change need more. Before we can start talking numbers we have to talk dreams. And opportunities. And vision. And I believe that coaching clients through these kinds of exercises is as vital to the client as it is deeply fulfilling for me. And that is what I created Athena Legacy Solutions to do.