Ethical Practice: Creating and Maintaining Trust

[1] Consumers are on our side

When it comes to trust, we start out with consumers on our side. A recent national survey conducted by the National Council on the Aging asked people of all ages if they've discussed retirement planning with a professional financial advisor and if not, then why not? 45% of people age 50 to 75 said "yes." Of the 55% who said "no," lack of trust was one of the two least important reasons. Only 7% said: I don't trust financial advisors. The other reasons included: I'd rather do it myself [41%], I don't have enough money to invest [31%], I'm not worried about having enough money [18%], and I don't want to pay for advice [3%].

Through your understanding of the Wealth Span and from AIFG's financial educational curriculum, you will acquire new skills and knowledge for responding to these "other reasons" people cite for not needing financial advisors. But for now the most important "bottom line" is that on the crucial matter of trust, we start out with consumers on our side. And so we work toward building on and expanding this trust.

[2] Ethical Practice is more than just a written document

After admission into the RFG® program, every candidate for the RFG® certification will affirm in writing the RFG® Pledge of Ethical Practice. This Pledge incorporates the fundamental tenets of ethical financial practice, but then further takes into account the special considerations and circumstances encountered in working with older persons and their families.

Because ethical practice is more than just a written document, the REGISTERED FINANCIAL GERONTOLOGIST curriculum includes the AIFG 103 Core Course, Serving the Older Client: Values, Ethics & Lifespan Development. This course uses a series of real-life Case Studies to explore the kinds of ethical conflicts that often develop when working with older clients. For example, since financial decisions are family decisions, the question "Who is the real client?" can be especially challenging with older families. The course and the Case Studies grapple with the ethical dimensions of such financial gerontological issues such as inheritance, health decline and memory loss, long-term care planning, and bereavement.

[3] The Registered Financial Gerontologist as a Trusted Family Advisor*

You may begin your relationship with your client when husband and wife are in their 30s or 40s, when their children are young, and as they are thinking about larger homes, future tuition payments, more life insurance, and future-oriented investments. Over the years you will become a trusted financial advisor. As your clients move closer to and inevitably into middle age, the children are spending those tuition dollars, and the conversations include more references to gray hair, retirement, and aging.

One day your client will say something about an aging parent. It may be something dramatic - about a broken hip, heart attack, or cancer, or something less specific but more ominous: 'Dad is increasingly forgetful, and I'm worried. Does this mean Alzheimer's? What do you think I should do?' If it was a heart attack then of course the physician is already part of the picture.

But if it's one of those worrisome but ambiguous issues, you may be the first professional who is asked a question. After all, you have become a trusted family advisor. At first, your client may be concerned about the financial implications of what seem to be immense long-term care issues. Or, questions may be about those "undefined worries" - often the worst kind. And it should not be surprising that at some point your client will turn to you with questions about non-financial gerontological personal and family situations, as well as questions about the financial implications of those situations. After all, you have become a trusted family advisor.

*Adapted from Advising Mature Clients: The New Science of Wealth Span Planning, the recommended textbook for AIFG 1 01.