What type of advisor helps you achieve a long-term goal? One who is primarily a cheerleader?... or one who is a coach? We think about this often as we work with individuals at various stages of life. Sometimes clients need motivation, and sometimes they need discipline. On measure, most people need a bit of each.

I recently had lunch with a colleague and we were discussing the difficulty of motivating some clients to save sufficiently to accomplish what they want financially. He proffered that it wasn't really our job, and either people saved enough or not. True enough, but at times we think clients need a clear reading of the possible consequences in order to generate the necessary motivation. In our view, that indeed is our role.

In the simplest rendering, we are merely reporters of the outcomes from various financial decisions that clients have made over time. We can provide direction (leadership) but ultimately the decisions, good or otherwise, are not ours to make.

As numerous studies tell us, accomplishing financial goals without objective advice is difficult for most individuals.