What Is A Life Plan?

To understand the difference between a life plan and a financial plan, it’s important to better understand what life planning is.

George Kinder is the creator of financial life planning, of which I prefer to drop the “financial” off to shift the emphasis toward the life planning portion of the process. The focus of financial life planning is the human side of financial planning—YOU, not just the numbers that have dominated financial planning since its beginnings. In fact, it is quite possible that a life plan has few financial components in it.

Kinder created the E.V.O.K.E. process to lead individuals through the life planning process; the acronym stands for Exploration, Vision, Obstacles, Knowledge, and Execution. It isn’t until the Knowledge portion of E.V.O.K.E. that you get to the traditional financial planning—this is where money is aligned with the ideal authentic life you designed in the E., V., and O. phases. Once you have completed the E., V., and O. you will find that the alignment of your money becomes clearer and oftentimes easier to execute; your money now has a great purpose, which has been discovered and designed by YOU.

Life planning is about discovering your true Self, the values you hold not just about money but about life, creating a vision of the authentic life you were created to live, and gaining the confidence to move away from the social norms we’ve all grown accustomed to and toward the life you want.

If life planning is the process of discovering who you really are, what you desire in life, finding your authentic life, and aligning your money with this vision, then a life plan is a blueprint for how to bring your authentic life to reality. A life plan addresses what you want to accomplish, the obstacles that stand in the way, and how you will overcome those obstacles and by when. For some, a life plan will be complemented by a traditional financial plan analyzing savings, investments, insurance, taxes, estate planning, and the other important components that make up your financial life.

I’ve made the decision that not all life plans that RLS Wealth will help to create will continue to the Knowledge part of the E.V.O.K.E. process; in some situations, I may refer clients to one of many great financial advisors I know (having a tremendous network of financial advisors, including The AGC™ is one of my unique benefits) to build the financial plan to align with the life plan. I believe so strongly in the magic of the E., V., and O. phases of E.V.O.K.E. that I want to spend as much time as I can in those spaces—I also believe my greatest strength as a financial advisor is helping clients all the way up to the financial plan. I’ve been doing traditional financial planning for over nineteen years. I could continue until I retire sometime later in life, but my passion lies in the human-focused part of financial planning, not the numbers—my authentic life involves more life planning and less financial planning.

Plus, I have my longtime RLS Wealth clients to continue to do financial planning for 😀.

The final output of a life plan will vary from advisor to advisor, but at RLS Wealth, your life plan will be a blueprint for making your authentic life your reality; it will provide a clear vision of the life you want—a vision so clear you will feel the emotions of what it will be like to live that life.

For more on life planning from George Kinder, check out this old episode of All About Your Benjamins where I get a chance to talk with him about the process and the benefits. I think 2024 would be a great year to revisit this conversation with George with the knowledge and experiences I have gained since the recording.

If designing your life plan sounds like the next step in pursuing your authentic life, give a look at our LifeDesign and LifeDesign+ relationships to see if we might be the right fit for you.