In this insightful episode of Friends Talk Financial Planning (FTFP), we dive deep into the intersection of values, money, and freedom with none other than George Kinder, a registered life planner and a pioneer in the life planning movement. Join hosts Bridget and John as they explore how understanding and embracing your core values can lead to a happy, meaningful life and effective financial planning.
George Kinder, author of the seminal book "Seven Stages of Money Maturity," discusses the importance of values like freedom, truth, and social justice, and how these have shaped his life's work. He shares his thoughts on the practice of mindfulness, the importance of living authentically, and his newest book "The Three Domains of Freedom."
Learn how you can incorporate your own values into your financial planning, and discover ways to lead a life that's not only financially secure but also deeply fulfilling and aligned with your personal values.
To explore more of George Kinder's work, visit https://www.georgekinder.com for more information on his books, poetry, philosophy, and life planning innovations.
George Kinder's new book The Three Domains of Freedom is available on Amazon. Discover how financial planning, mindfulness, and a better civilization can empower you to live a more fulfilling life.
Resources:
- Alliance of Comprehensive Planners: https://www.acplanners.org
Follow Us:
- John Scheer’s Practice: https://www.trinfin.com
Connect with us on LinkedIn:
- Bridget Sullivan Mermel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-sullivan-mermel-a72620/
- John Scherer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmscherercfp/
#FinancialPlanning #ValuesAndMoney #LifePlanning #Mindfulness #GeorgeKinder #SevenStagesOfMoneyMaturity #ThreeDomainsOfFreedom #FinancialFreedom #SocialJustice #FTFP
TRANSCRIPT:
Bridget: For a happy and meaningful life, I see focusing on your values as your guiding lights as a key to that happiness. And it happens with money too. Sometimes people think that money is the obstacle, but I think knowing your values is. Hi, I'm Bridget Sullivan Mermel. I've got a fee-only financial planning practice in Chicago, Illinois.
John: And I'm John Scherer. I've got a fee-only financial planning practice in Middleton, Wisconsin. And joining us today on this episode of Friends Talk Financial Planning to talk about values and money is George Kinder, a registered life planner, one of the founders of that movement and a pioneer in our industry. Really excited to have you on the show today, George.
George: Wonderful to be here, John and Bridget. Great to see you both.
Bridget: And I can't wait to talk to you about this because reading one of the books that you wrote decades ago, The Seven Stages of Money Maturity, I could see that your values of, freedom, truth and social justice were sparks that help you create the whole life planning movement. And I'm really interested in talking to you about those values and how you use them to shape your life's work.
George: Wow. What a big question, Bridget. And I love it. And I know how important the whole theme of values is to you and to many people. And there are many people who do what is called value-based planning of one sort or another. And it's never been a word that I've used a lot, but hearing you describe it, I'm going, “Yay!” And so, I've been thinking as you've been talking how I would frame it for myself and what I've done with clients is inspired them to live the life that they find would find most meaningful, most thrilling, most exciting, most vital, most authentic. And I guess those are all values when you think about it.
And in order to get there, I realized that my primary value when I'm with another human being is listening, listening in a way that they know I get them, I'm here. I really want to listen, passionately want to listen, like nobody's listened to them before. So those are values that come up. And then you mentioned my book. I've written this. Is it my final book? It might be. It's called The Three Domains of Freedom. And Bridget's right on; freedom is a huge theme in all of my books. And I've written books of poetry, philosophy, and meditation, three books on money, and two books on civilization.
Freedom's a huge theme in all of them. In this book, in a way, I'm trying to summarize it. And so maybe these are the values that I stand for most of all. I think what I try to do is live in freedom all the time. That's hard, right? I mean, things come up and you get torn this way or torn that way. That's hard. So how do you do that? And that's really why I wrote the book, because I thought, you know, there really are three different domains that I hop back and forth to. So the first domain, and we all get this intellectually, is each moment is yours.
Don't we understand that? I mean, really, each moment I can choose in this moment to be free, to be as I like to be, to be complete in myself, to be authentic, to be right here in this moment. And that's a practice. There's a practice for that called mindfulness that's very popular these days. And mindfulness, I think it's a meditative practice. People don't say this, but I think it's the practice of the mastery of the present moment. And the present moment's the only moment we ever experience freedom in, because you can't experience the past, you can't experience the future. All you get is the present moment. So what a cool thing. So a third of this very easy to read, but I think profound and inspiring book (I hope it's both), is about the practice of mindfulness.
So that we claim each moment as a domain of freedom for ourselves. But then life happens, right? And we can't just be in the moment sometimes because, our spouse calls, our kids call, the tax man calls. And we get all these things that happen. The stock market's crashing and we want to make a call. All these things are happening. So the second one is your life is yours. And that's very precious and really what I've done professionally and really how you, Bridget and John, got to me.
For years I've pioneered something in the financial planning arena that insists for financial planners that they place the client's life first, ahead of their own interests, ahead of their own spreadsheets, ahead of their own products. It's first. So what I talk about there is how do we place our own life first? So I live with my eyes on the prize, with this sense of who it is I really want to be. And we've talked about that in other programs but that's really important. I think that's important for all of us. If we have something that we're thrilled about and really moved by, we should live for that. And that's your life is yours. That's the second value. The third one is the one we really struggle with.
And Bridget, I don't know if it was in the intro or before, you talked about social justice. I believe in democracy. And I believe that the reason that we're in a difficult place right now is because our institutions were given something 250 years ago, when the whole industrial revolution began. We gave it to these organizations, well actually the government gave it. They talk about the free market. They say, hey, government, no interference. Well, in fact, we interfered right from the beginning. We said, “You get limited liability.”
And that meant they could do a lot of things that maybe we wouldn't have been happy about, like put money into politics where it's really us. Or do things with the earth that make it threatened in some way. There’re a variety of things. Or the whole thing with the media right now. We can't trust the media we go to. Is it really telling the truth? So, civilization is yours. I think we ought to celebrate all the great things that have been done. And there are amazing things that we're living in the midst of. I'm so thrilled to be here in this moment and so thrilled with our ancestors and what they've delivered. But the job isn't done.
Moreover, we need to do some things at the base of our institutions, insisting that they put the truth ahead of their own self-interest, that they put democracy ahead of their own self-interest, and they put the planet ahead of their own self-interest. And I think if that were to happen, and if humanity were to do that, I think that we wouldn't have nearly the problems that we have. We wouldn't have the polarization that has occurred, and we'd be a lot further along. So I'm fighting for that right now. And that's in the book. I talk about how you might do that. I think there's just a one-sentence legislative proposal. I call it fiduciary in all things. And so, I'm just at the end of my life, late 70s, I'm fighting, I want to make this world a better place. And that's how I'm doing it.
John: I really appreciate this conversation. Bridget, I always learn things from you, talking about values and money, because I know that's so important. And George, it's like drinking from a fire hose when I’m listening. I've got what feels like a simplistic question, but I want to ask it anyway. When you talk about freedom, do you have a definition? And maybe the book talks about this, but when I hear freedom, I think, well, I can't just go to the beach or play golf every day here. Can you define what freedom means as you think about it your work?
George: When you mentioned go to the beach or play golf, those may be values for you that you would prefer to be doing more of the time than you're doing right now. And what freedom means to me is what is that balance where you feel thrilled with what it is that you're doing in your life so that you don't feel that you're sacrificing so much that you don't get to do what you want. So the theme isn't, oh, I don't get to be at the beach. I don't get to be with my kids. I don't get to write the great novel or do Instagram video posts. I don't get to do that.
That's not the theme. The theme is I'm doing it. And the work that I'm doing, I'm doing so that I have that extra time, so that, in fact, that part of my life is flourishing. The reason that I divided freedom into three domains is that I think we can claim it in every moment in a way, because a lot of it has to do with, am I really here in a way that I feel is authentic, has integrity, is kind, is truthful. Am I really here in this moment with whomever, or even with myself, in a way that feels great? And if I'm not, maybe I need a timeout like I give my kids sometimes to just take a moment and go, okay, what would feel good?
So, I think there are three domains. I think one is that trajectory of our life and how we live it and what we're meant to deliver. I think one is that every moment. And then the third one is the species. Civilization is not about nation states. Civilization is about the human species. Civilization is who we are. And right now, there's a lot of cause to be ashamed of who we are. There's corruption all over the place. We're battling with each other. That shouldn't be, and we can end that. We can take that on. It takes work, but we can take it on. So I hope that's helpful
John: That is. Thank you.
Bridget: Yeah, that's a great place to wrap it up. I'm Bridget Sullivan Mermel. I've got a fee-only financial planning practice in Chicago, Illinois.
John: And I'm John Scherer. I've got a fee-only financial planning practice in Middleton, Wisconsin. Our guest today has been industry pioneer George Kinder, sharing some of his new work. His book, The Three Domains of Freedom, is now available. And George, can tell people where they can get the book?
George: Yeah. Go to Amazon. And if you want to see any other aspect of my work, my creative work, go to georgekinder.com, and you'll see the book advertised there as well.
Bridget: It's awesome. We so appreciate you joining us for these episodes. And to our viewers, please subscribe.
At Sullivan Mermel, Inc., we are fee-only financial planners located in Chicago, Illinois serving clients in Chicago and throughout the nation. We meet both in-person in our Chicago office and virtually through video conferencing and secure file transfer.
Comentarios