006: Financial Planning: It Isn’t All About The Money


In this episode of Absolute Trust Talk, Kirsten welcomes Walnut Creek Financial Planner Ora Citron into the studio. For Ora, financial planning is a way to make a difference for individuals in our community, directly and meaningfully, by taking responsibility for helping clients create a path to the future based on their personal goals.

During her discussion with Kirsten, Ora shares with listeners what financial planning really is, and hint, it’s not all about the money. Ora highlights that for a majority of her clients, financial planning makes a huge difference by relieving stress and creating clarity. Financial planners can bring new and different resources to the table. Ora and Kirsten also discuss the biggest misconceptions in financial planning, and Ora weighs in on complex and often misunderstood topics like social security and long-term care.

Later, Ora also shares that a large part of her focus, and a subspecialty of her firm, is working with women in transition. Whether it’s retirement, divorce, or widowhood, it’s important to educate women, relieving stress and creating clarity in very emotionally difficult times.

Big Three From Episode #006:

  1. Financial Planners bring new ideas to the table, things you have never even heard about.
  2. It’s not solely about the money
  3. Don’t leave your future to guesswork!

Time-stamped Show Notes:

2:36 – The Basics: What do financial planners do?

3:45 – What difference does financial planning make for a client?

4:40 – Retirement isn’t the only goal that a financial planner can help someone achieve

5:39 – Medicare, people know about it, but they don’t know these facts

6:35 – Why can’t someone just do it on his or her own? There is Google, right?

8:40 – Ora discusses the one piece of financial planning that is most critical to a financial planner’s success with clients

15:33 – Ora highlights a subspecialty of her practice – working with women in transition

16:44 – What’s makes working with women clientele different?

18:20 – Social Security planning is something that should not be dismissed. Here’s why…

26:14 – Ora discusses her approach to long-term care in financial planning

29:04 – Isn’t long-term care planning just for the wealthy?

30:52 – Ora highlights the biggest misconceptions that she see’s with clients and in general

Episode #006 Freebie: Risk Tolerance Assessment

You’ve found a good financial planner, someone, you’re comfortable working with, but that’s only half the battle. You want to feel comfortable with what they are doing for you and your money. A crucial piece of successful financial planning is risk analysis because it defines the risk you’re willing to take with your money. Walnut Creek financial planner Ora Citron swears by one tool that she uses with her clients, Riskalyze. Riskalyze is an online questionnaire with practical questions to assess how comfortable you are with taking risks. It makes you think about what you would realistically do, how content you are with that and what adjustments need to be made in your financial plan, so you meet all of your goals. Ora is offering Absolute Trust Talk listeners exclusive access to this questionnaire so that you too can see where your risk tolerance lies. Click here to answer a few questions, and you will receive your risk number.

Resources/Tools/Links Mentioned in this Episode:

The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis

Check out this episode!

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If you’re someone who needs to include Medi-Cal planning in your estate plan, we can help. For more information on what Medi-Cal planning should look like, visit https://absolutetrustcounsel.com/practice-areas/medi-cal-planning/ for even more resources to help get you started.

Kirsten Howe: