Financial Planning Starts With Emotions

19 May

When people think about financial planning, they imagine spreadsheets, investment portfolios, and retirement forecasts. Money, however, is never just numbers. It’s emotions, memories, fears, and dreams all wrapped into one complicated and ever evolving relationship.

As Miye Wire put it on the Knowing Me Knowing You podcast, “Money is an emotional subject. You won’t be successful working with clients unless you acknowledge that it is emotional for everyone and their relationship with it is different.”

You Can't Change Their Relationship with Money But You Can Work With It

Money relationships are shaped by childhood experiences, cultural background, family dynamics, and life events. A client who grew up watching their parents struggle to pay bills will view financial risk differently than someone raised with financial abundance, or even perceived financial abundance. It’s more about the perception than the number. You can’t rewrite their history, but you can understand it and with that understanding, build trust.

This is what makes Miye’s client-first approach so effective and has led her practice to be named the best financial planning firm in Northern Virginia by Virginia Living Magazine for five consecutive years. Under Miye’s leadership, her team takes on the role of personal trainer or chef or coach to help clients take consistent action toward their goals, even when it’s hard. As Miye says, “Knowing you need to do something and actually doing it are different things.”

Financial Planning as a Relationship, Not a Transaction

Miye creates a culture and framework for accountability. A detailed, leather-bound financial plan that collects dust on a shelf doesn’t help anyone. But an actionable plan that moves the needle in a meaningful way to improve a client’s life is differentiated service. They break down complex goals into clear steps, follow up frequently, and offer to take tasks off their clients' plates when life gets in the way.

It’s not just about financial acumen, it’s about understanding what motivates each client. Some clients need data. Others need encouragement. Some just need someone to ask the right question and listen without interrupting. That’s where empathy and technology come together.

Tech Helps, But Human Connection Drives Action

Miye’s firm uses their CRM to keep detailed notes not just about assets and risk scores, but about personalities, communication preferences, and emotional triggers. This helps them respond with authenticity, assigning the right team member to the right client based on energy and style.

If a client emails to share that their daughter got into college, Miye’s team member who “feels things deeply” will write the reply, because she is specially skilled in meeting the emotions of her clients. They respond to clients with the tone that matters in the moment.

This is what personalized financial planning really looks like. Not just tailored investment strategies, but support that feels human because it is. It’s inherently superior to what clients can find through cheaper or free automated tools as a result.

Start with the Why And Keep Asking

Miye reflected on the power of open-ended questions. Start each meeting by asking, “What’s on your mind today?” Let them speak. Be quiet. Be present. As she says, “He who speaks first, loses.”

From there, explore the "what ifs":

What if your child gets into a $90,000-per-year school instead of the $30,000 one you budgeted for?
What if you want to quit your job at 50 to start a business?
What if the market crashes right before retirement?

The answers to these questions reveal far more than any static questionnaire and recognize the nuance in client responses. They extract what the client values so Miye and her team can represent those values as the pillars of each client’s financial plan.

Hire for Heart, Train for Skills

It’s clear that Miye’s success stems from building a team that embodies this philosophy. When hiring, she looks for personality and empathy rather than resumes full of finance degrees. Her belief? “You just need the right personality, and you’ll learn the rest here.”

In fact, her own son who recently joined the practice is majoring in history and anthropology…not finance. And that’s perfectly fine. In a firm where authentic human connection matters as much as financial knowledge, soft skills aren’t soft, they're essential.

The Takeaway: Real Planning Starts With Real People

Money is emotional. That is not a weakness. It is the foundation of every meaningful financial plan. Advisors who acknowledge this truth create stronger relationships, ask better questions, and build strategies that align with how clients actually live and feel.

Knomee was built on the belief that understanding the human side of money leads to better outcomes. It is not just about having more data. It is about having insights that reveal what clients value, what worries them, and what motivates their decisions.

Our tools help advisors move beyond the numbers. They help uncover what truly matters so every plan reflects the person behind it.

Financial planning is not just about returns. It is about relevance. When clients feel seen and heard, they stay engaged. And when advisors have the right tools to guide those conversations, everyone wins.