Why I Love My Job?

Healy Financial |

It's a been a busy year – and a year of firsts for my wife and me! We were married, moved to a new city, my wife started a new job, we bought our first home, and we are expecting our first child.

What surprised me the most is none of these big life events caused us a great deal of stress. For the most part, everything just fell in place. Sure we had our stressful moments like everyone, but our preparation throughout the year, and communication went a long way.

By the same token, I like guiding my clients through their own major life events. In addition to helping them reach their goals, I love when they are able to enjoy new experiences and life events without financial stress.

The first step is understanding my clients' relationships with money. I have a lot of interesting conversations with people about what money means to them. In these conversations, I hear a lot of different ideas and ways of seeing money. Some people are comfortable spending money on their goals and experiences, while others have a hard time spending anything on themselves because they are afraid of not having enough later. For me personally, money means security and the ability to pursue fun life experiences, like traveling and water skiing with my wife.

As I get to know my clients and understand their relationships with money and their goals, I use coaching strategies to drill down to find out what is important to them. Some may want a vacation home or the freedom to travel. Others may want to pay for their children's education or make improvements to their homes. Whatever the goal, we discuss ways they can achieve them and develop a plan. And of course their goals change over time, so we meet regularly to assess their current goals and learn about new ones.

In these conversations, I also learn some people do not always have the best relationship with their money. I enjoy helping them discover what they need to do to change their attitudes about money. It might be paying down that car loan that gives them the freedom to travel more. Or knowing they are on track for retirement to spend more on their hobbies or their kids. I appreciate seeing the joy and satisfaction it brings them when they develop a healthier relationship with their money.

I tell my clients: "Do the things you know you’re supposed to do now so you can continue to do the things you want to do." So far, it's working in my own life, and I love the excitement and joy it gives my clients when it works in their lives too.

Ready to start the conversation? Let's talk!

More about the Author:

Joseph Cramer, CFP, Financial Advisor

Joe, resides in Indiana and graduated from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota with a BSB in finance, risk management, and insurance.

He appreciates working with young professionals and families, especially those in the medical community. His areas of expertise include: holistic fee-based financial planning and coaching; asset protection strategies in the areas of specialty-specific disability insurance and life insurance; debt management; tax deferred strategies for funding education and retirement; and, wealth management.