It is a lost option that is hidden in the simple picture: “What is your favorite charity?” It may sound fundamental, but it is a question that we haven't asked for too long – and now, we can't imagine not looking for it.
As financial advisers, we are trained to collect critical information buckets: income, active, liabilities, property documents, insurance coverage. But in our pursuit of comprehensive planning, many of us have overlooked one of the most discovering and emotional questions that we can ask a client. One that unlocks deeper relationships reveals hidden planning opportunities and often leads to more fulfilled results for clients and councilors alike.
At a time when relationships are everything in wealth management, asking customers about their favorite charity is helping to distinguish our practice in ways we never envision.
It should not be a surprise to our other advisers that charity is not just a seasonal feeling, but an increasing part of future generation's financial planning ethics. According to the US grant, Americans donated over $ 499 billion per charity in 2022, and while the total was slightly immersed in the pandemia to set the records, the commitment to philanthropy remains strong, especially among high -value families.
The US philanthropy study in the US in 2023 reported that 90% of high -value net -value individuals give charity, with nearly half involved charity goals in their wealth plans (something we have seen first, and I am sure that our peers also noticed this trend). But given all the data that emphasizes a conscious attempt to support financial gifts, only about 16% of councilors inquire routinely about philanthropic purposes during detection or planning processes, for research from the Fidelity charity report.
When we started using FP Alpha to integrate knowledge directed from it into the tax and planning of our assets, it quickly became clear how important our clients were. The software was tremendous in surface planning gaps, such as undeclared wills, unused opportunities for qualified charity distribution (QCD), or inefficient money giving strategies instead of estimated assets.
But it was not until we married the technology and planning knowledge with the current human conversation that something extraordinary happened. Asking our customers about their favorite charity aroused something we didn't expect: customers were lit. Some quick answers, of the fact. But more than half went deep, sharing personal touching stories: a disease of a child that led to eternal support for pediatric hospitals, a veteran grandfather whose memory inspired donations to the injured warrior project and a beloved pet that made local animals save their passion project.
The question changed everything for us. Suddenly, we were not just talking about money – we were talking about inheritance, identity and purpose.
“What is your favorite charity?” Opens the door to discussions that are not visible in a client's tax return. For example, a client may be tens of thousands a year in a church, but not by capturing any tax benefit due to standard deduction. This is where we open up with solutions like “Bunching” donation or donor -advised funds.
On one occasion, a elementary school teacher donated a monthly money to her church. Through a tax view, we realized that it could benefit more by using shares rated by its brokerage account, avoiding capital gains and
maximizing its tax efficiency. She loved the idea not only for tax benefit, but because it meant more resources could go to the cause she believed.
We also take the opportunity to remember clients about our common interest in helping them achieve their charity goals. Easy is easy to get involved in our entire organization. For the Thanksgiving Cards, we mentioned the favorite charity of a client we had donated. This simple act became a catalyst for the new business. The card ended up in their refrigerator, where they saw their adult children. A few months later, one of them became a client.
What is what we now call doing good doing good.
As registered investment advisers (RIA), we always look for ways to get into a sea of oneness. They all offer portfolio management. Everyone claims to be “comprehensive”. But how many counselors can indicate a moment where they made sense of a client's financial heritage trajectory? Our simple question does this for us.
Talking about a customer's charity impact has fostered tangible results:
· It has increased the portfolio part from clients who feel deeper associated with their plan and with us.
· Brought us stronger references – because these stories are divided on dinner tables and social media, not just in Spreadsheets.
· This allows for greater integration of the team as our next -generation councilors owners can easily enter these inheritance conversations and gain confidence.
Success planning has been essential for us in recent years, allowing us to introduce clients to our future ownership team. By distributing the tax planning and charity discussions for our G2 advisers, we are exalting their role in complex conversations, ensuring that customers become comfortable by interacting with more than just the founding partner. Successless by design, not as default.
But none of these would be possible without the right technology. FP Alpha and tax planning views play a central role in this effort. The appearance of assets of the assets distilves dense legal documents in soluble summary, allowing us to identify immediately if and how charities are part of a plan and recommend adjustments accordingly.
Utilizing a vehicle with a tax photo is a great idea. It visually breaks down the articulated deductions, detecting opportunities for optimization. Do they miss deductions? Are they getting the standard deduction, but giving significant amounts to charity anyway? These knowledge guides our planning and promote more strategic discussions.
Here's how we now frame chat with clients:
“We have recently added a new tool to discover tax and assets planning opportunities using your existing documents. As part of this process, we have begun to ask a new question that helps us to understand what matters to you: What is your favorite charity?”
It is not the non -leading, personal and allows customers to share their values, not just their number.
And when they do? This is where magic happens.
Ultimately
We are not saying that charity is the only lenses through which they serve customers, but it is one of the most used. And in an industry where relationships direct retention, references and income, we cannot allow us to lose the opportunity to connect to what matters most.
If you are a counselor you are looking to stand, go deeper and build a business that is as significant as it is profitable. Start asking better questions.
Start with: “What is your favorite charity?”
You can find that it is the most valuable conversation you've ever had.