AUTHOR: Javier Escobar on 6/7/2026 FIRST: Dan Smith on 6/7 | RECENT: tman9999 on 6/13
Comments
Bob, thank you for sharing this — your trajectory mirrors what several others have described, and the cognitive-decline motivation is one I think more of us should be talking about openly. Recognizing it before it becomes urgent is itself a form of planning. Your insight about AUM advisors potentially recommending strategies that conveniently keep more assets under management is something most clients never see, even when it's happening to them.
On your question about the CFP: I took the program at Rice University in 2013–2014, a graduate certificate program that prepared me to sit for the CFP exam. My college roommate, Greg, a retired clinical psychologist, recently signed up to audit the CFP program at NYU. As I remember, the cost at Rice was around $6,000. Auditing is probably less expensive. But for me, all the fun was being in class with young finance professionals 30 or more years younger than me; being able to contribute to discussions with a vastly different perspective and experience; and the laser focus on purposeful learning that hormones and tear gas may have interfered with when I was in college in the early 1970s.
Stacey, thank you for adding your voice. Your "not thinking of their 60, 70, 80 year old selves" observation is one of the deeper diagnoses in this thread — it's not only about money or access, it's about the imaginative reach across decades that long-horizon planning requires. People who are focused on the next paycheck don't have the bandwidth to picture themselves at 75, and the financial planning conversation assumes that picture is already there. Your CFP study without certification mirrors my own thinking on the value of the knowledge itself, independent of the credential. The genetics of financial literacy — that's a real thing too, even if no one names it that way.
Thank you for this. The progression you describe — beginning with investment advice and growing into estate planning, taxes, and life insurance work that now extends to your adult children — is one of the most concrete illustrations of what holistic planning looks like in practice. The protective dimension you mention, building cash value that's also available to you if needed, is the kind of layered thinking that becomes possible only when a planner understands the whole household across generations. The "right advisor" matters, as you say; finding that fit is often the precondition for everything else.
John, your comment has stayed with me since I first read it. The calendar question is one of those simple framings that reveals a structural truth — that the discipline of setting a goal and accepting accountability is itself an inheritance that some households have and others don't. The 10-pound illustration is exactly right: the work isn't financial, it's something prior to financial. I'd be interested to hear more about how Habitat's coaching component works in practice, and whether you've seen the financial-planning conversation become possible once the goal-setting foundation is in place. The sequencing matters, and I think you may have named something most planning conversations skip over entirely.
Mark, 'tis I who owe you an apology for my assumption about your motivations for engaging with a financial planner.
From perusing the Forum, I get the impression that you're a frequent contributor - and one with a different perspective. I've lived in Switzerland for 40 years (6 months a year, now that we're retired), and without going into details here, I would note that the difference in attitudes, assumptions and perspectives on personal finance, investing and retirement between Europe and the US is real. Thanks for introducing me to the notion of the "disengaged majority". It's a useful term that carries a lot of meaning.
John, many thanks for your post. I'm getting the impression that Humble Dollar readers pretty much break down the middle as to whether they find value in working with (and paying) financial advisers, and that experiences are unavoidably mixed. Either way, it's always a learning experience!
I'd be interested in knowing whether the topic of emotional feelings about money, which you referenced, has been discussed in this Forum. I agree that a sense of pride or a lack of trust can dissuade people from looking for or accepting good advice. Best wishes for your forthcoming retirement!
Brian, it sounds like you found a planner whose approach (the Bucket Plan) gave you and your wife peace of mind. Can you say more about what you value most in that relationship? Is it primarily the investment work, or does it extend to other areas — tax, estate, insurance? It can be hard to hand over investment decisions to someone else, but you seem to have done it without much hesitation. Were there doubts you had to work through to make that choice?
Mark, your perspective is one this thread needed. You're right about the cost barrier — and you've named it with the credibility of someone who knows the ground. I'd like to ask you two things, if you're willing. First, when you imagine what your wife would need if she were navigating finances without you, what would you look for in an advisor for her? Second — and this is where I'd most value your view — what alternatives do people in the circumstances you describe currently have? Not because I have answers, but because that's the population I keep returning to.
Dave, you've identified exactly the people I'm concerned about — those who aren't wealthy enough to interest financial planners, and aren't yet well-informed enough to look for help themselves. There's a real gap there, and the free resources you mention (HumbleDollar, Bogleheads) only reach the people who are already inclined to read them. The harder population to reach is the one that doesn't yet know what they don't know.
mytimetotravel, agreed entirely on AUM fees. The deeper point in your reply — that people who most need financial help are unlikely to be of interest to most planners — is the structural problem this thread keeps surfacing in different forms. The financial planning model is calibrated to the wealthy; the people priced out of it are the ones who would gain the most.
Comments
Bob, thank you for sharing this — your trajectory mirrors what several others have described, and the cognitive-decline motivation is one I think more of us should be talking about openly. Recognizing it before it becomes urgent is itself a form of planning. Your insight about AUM advisors potentially recommending strategies that conveniently keep more assets under management is something most clients never see, even when it's happening to them. On your question about the CFP: I took the program at Rice University in 2013–2014, a graduate certificate program that prepared me to sit for the CFP exam. My college roommate, Greg, a retired clinical psychologist, recently signed up to audit the CFP program at NYU. As I remember, the cost at Rice was around $6,000. Auditing is probably less expensive. But for me, all the fun was being in class with young finance professionals 30 or more years younger than me; being able to contribute to discussions with a vastly different perspective and experience; and the laser focus on purposeful learning that hormones and tear gas may have interfered with when I was in college in the early 1970s.
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 7, 2026
Stacey, thank you for adding your voice. Your "not thinking of their 60, 70, 80 year old selves" observation is one of the deeper diagnoses in this thread — it's not only about money or access, it's about the imaginative reach across decades that long-horizon planning requires. People who are focused on the next paycheck don't have the bandwidth to picture themselves at 75, and the financial planning conversation assumes that picture is already there. Your CFP study without certification mirrors my own thinking on the value of the knowledge itself, independent of the credential. The genetics of financial literacy — that's a real thing too, even if no one names it that way.
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 7, 2026
Thank you for this. The progression you describe — beginning with investment advice and growing into estate planning, taxes, and life insurance work that now extends to your adult children — is one of the most concrete illustrations of what holistic planning looks like in practice. The protective dimension you mention, building cash value that's also available to you if needed, is the kind of layered thinking that becomes possible only when a planner understands the whole household across generations. The "right advisor" matters, as you say; finding that fit is often the precondition for everything else.
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 7, 2026
John, your comment has stayed with me since I first read it. The calendar question is one of those simple framings that reveals a structural truth — that the discipline of setting a goal and accepting accountability is itself an inheritance that some households have and others don't. The 10-pound illustration is exactly right: the work isn't financial, it's something prior to financial. I'd be interested to hear more about how Habitat's coaching component works in practice, and whether you've seen the financial-planning conversation become possible once the goal-setting foundation is in place. The sequencing matters, and I think you may have named something most planning conversations skip over entirely.
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 7, 2026
Mark, 'tis I who owe you an apology for my assumption about your motivations for engaging with a financial planner. From perusing the Forum, I get the impression that you're a frequent contributor - and one with a different perspective. I've lived in Switzerland for 40 years (6 months a year, now that we're retired), and without going into details here, I would note that the difference in attitudes, assumptions and perspectives on personal finance, investing and retirement between Europe and the US is real. Thanks for introducing me to the notion of the "disengaged majority". It's a useful term that carries a lot of meaning.
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 5, 2026
John, many thanks for your post. I'm getting the impression that Humble Dollar readers pretty much break down the middle as to whether they find value in working with (and paying) financial advisers, and that experiences are unavoidably mixed. Either way, it's always a learning experience! I'd be interested in knowing whether the topic of emotional feelings about money, which you referenced, has been discussed in this Forum. I agree that a sense of pride or a lack of trust can dissuade people from looking for or accepting good advice. Best wishes for your forthcoming retirement!
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 5, 2026
Brian, it sounds like you found a planner whose approach (the Bucket Plan) gave you and your wife peace of mind. Can you say more about what you value most in that relationship? Is it primarily the investment work, or does it extend to other areas — tax, estate, insurance? It can be hard to hand over investment decisions to someone else, but you seem to have done it without much hesitation. Were there doubts you had to work through to make that choice?
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 2, 2026
Mark, your perspective is one this thread needed. You're right about the cost barrier — and you've named it with the credibility of someone who knows the ground. I'd like to ask you two things, if you're willing. First, when you imagine what your wife would need if she were navigating finances without you, what would you look for in an advisor for her? Second — and this is where I'd most value your view — what alternatives do people in the circumstances you describe currently have? Not because I have answers, but because that's the population I keep returning to.
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 2, 2026
Dave, you've identified exactly the people I'm concerned about — those who aren't wealthy enough to interest financial planners, and aren't yet well-informed enough to look for help themselves. There's a real gap there, and the free resources you mention (HumbleDollar, Bogleheads) only reach the people who are already inclined to read them. The harder population to reach is the one that doesn't yet know what they don't know.
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 2, 2026
mytimetotravel, agreed entirely on AUM fees. The deeper point in your reply — that people who most need financial help are unlikely to be of interest to most planners — is the structural problem this thread keeps surfacing in different forms. The financial planning model is calibrated to the wealthy; the people priced out of it are the ones who would gain the most.
Post: The Quiet Failure of Good Advice
Link to comment from June 2, 2026