What Is Consolidated Planning’s Planning Philosophy?

When you consider joining a financial planning firm, one of the most important considerations is the firm’s planning philosophy. Understanding the type of practice you want to run immensely helps with alignment between the firm that supports you and your practice goals. 

Here at Consolidated Planning, we’ve refined our planning process over 40 years, helping our advisors lead with strategy rather than products. Our firm’s planning philosophy is firmly rooted in a planning-centric approach that goes beyond industry standard insurance only and investment only business models.

In what follows, we’ll seek to define how Consolidated Planning does financial planning and outline the tenets of our planning philosophy for you. With this knowledge, you’ll be one step closer in deciding the right type of firm for you, whether that’s us or not.

 

What Is Financial Planning?

Financial planning is the ongoing and comprehensive evaluation of someone’s financial situation using a defined process. Let’s break that down further. 

Financial planning is a verb, not a noun. Planning, then, is not a thing but an ongoing action.

Financial planning is comprehensive. Planning involves the complete financial picture, not just a portion of it.

Financial planning follows a process. Planning takes place within an established framework that provides quantitative measurements for progress.

 

Most of the financial services industry fails to adequately plan – even if their marketing would try to convince you otherwise. Unfortunately, the siloed nature of this industry and its historical focus on products is still the prevailing model today. Because of this, it’s helpful also to examine what financial planning isn’t.

 

What Financial Planning Isn’t

Most of the industry focuses on insurance only or investments only. These advisors tend to have a premeditated agenda when meeting with clients and will pitch products in the first client meeting. This is not planning; it’s product sales.

If this client doesn’t buy in the first meeting with a product sales advisor, that advisor moves on to the next prospect. If the client does buy, the advisor likely never talks about the client’s complete financial picture including protection, cash flow, savings, and wealth management. 

This is not comprehensive planning; it’s narrow-focused product sales.

Maybe this is what you want in your career…or maybe not.

 

 

How Can A Planning Philosophy Affect A Financial Advisor?

Financial advisors that embrace a planning philosophy stand out in the financial services industry. Most financial services companies focus on selling one or two product lines, often insurance or investments. Most people have relationships with three financial professionals, but people need to coordinate or plan the big picture. 

Your planning philosophy guides your actions as an advisor. It will dictate the types of strategies you recommend and the service model you implement (insurance, investments or true planning). As an advisor, you must be comprehensive, not transactional and your practice must have processes in place to facilitate the deeper level of work you do for your clients.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that your planning philosophy will guide every action you make as an advisor. Or at least, it should.

The planning philosophy you choose defines HOW you help your clients. It’s the core of WHO you are as an advisor. As you can gather, it’s essential that you are fully aligned with your firm’s planning philosophy. 

 

The Tenets Of Consolidated Planning’s Planning Philosophy

Since this alignment is so important, let’s talk about the four key tenets of the planning philosophy at Consolidated Planning.

 

Become A World Class Saver

Saving might seem obvious to some but a world class saver, according to Guardian, seeks to save a minimum of 15% of their income. Advisors at Consolidated Planning help their clients become the best savers they can possibly be by maximizing savings through organization and cash flow efficiency. 

This tenet is true for clients of all income levels and stages of life.

Budgeting is not savings. Investing is not savings. 

Saving is a habit and a mindset that must be developed over time through practice.

 

Fully Protect Today Before Planning For Tomorrow

As an advisor at Consolidated Planning, you’ll help clients clearly define their goals for the future. Once you’ve fully fleshed out your client’s hopes and dreams, you’ll begin looking for threats to those goals. As you work to identify what could disrupt your client’s progress toward their goals today, you’ll recommend strategies and products to protect, reduce, and eliminate risks.

Protection and protection first is a crucial tenet of our planning philosophy as a firm. While it is certainly not the most exciting element of our work, it is undoubtedly the part of our work that clients are most thankful for. 

 

Deal In Maximums, Not Minimums

Most financial advisors don’t deal in maximums. Instead, they rush to find the least amount their clients need. What’s the least amount of income, the least amount of savings, and the least amount of protection? Your clients want more than just survival, even if they don’t know what this looks like yet. 

Advisors at Consolidated Planning plan for clients in terms of maximums. 

The most income.

The most savings.

The most protection.

Your clients deserve and should want things to be the best they can possibly be. This change in mindset shifts away from the survival approach that viewing the world from a “least” perspective creates. This shift is essential to achieve big goals.

Embracing this tenet of our planning philosophy allows you to expand the realm of what’s possible for your client in ways that most advisors simply can’t.

 

Don’t Ask The Client Questions They Can’t Answer

Many advisors ask clients questions like “how much money will you need in retirement?” There is no chance on earth that the client knows the answer to this question. It’s unlikely that you know the answer to this question much better than a guess. So why ask?

Advisors at Consolidated Planning don’t ask clients questions they can’t possibly answer because the answers are useless. Think about it. If you ask your client how much money they will need in retirement, they will answer you with a guess. That guess may be terrible, but it will become the central point of the plan you put together to help them get to that guess. That makes no sense.

You know that clients don’t know how much they will need. You also understand that they will want the most possible, so plan for that and leave the guesswork out. 

 

How Can Consolidated Planning’s Planning Philosophy Change Your Practice?

Your planning philosophy doesn’t just guide how you serve clients — it defines the kind of advisor you become. Our planning philosophy is clear: lead with strategy, protect first, plan for maximums, and cut the guesswork out.

With this approach, you’re focusing on prioritizing people first. This is what builds long-lasting, referral-producing relationships.

If this sounds like the kind of practice you want to build, talk with a team member to learn more.

 

 

Exp. 9/2027

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Consolidated Planning, Inc. is an Agency of The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian), New York, NY. Securities products and advisory services offered through Park Avenue Securities LLC (PAS), member FINRA, SIPC. OSJ: 6115 Park South Drive, Suite 200, Charlotte NC 28210, Phone # 704-5528507. PAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian. This firm is not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS. This material is intended for general use. By providing this content Park Avenue Securities LLC and your financial representative are not undertaking to provide investment advice or make a recommendation for a specific individual or situation, or to otherwise act in a fiduciary capacity.