As someone who works at a financial planning and investment management firm, I think it’s a question we should probably be asking our clients more often. To be honest, I haven’t tried asking it yet, at least not directly. I’ve been in plenty of meetings where our clients started crying though.
I was in a Discovery meeting (this is one of the meetings we do in the process of a prospect becoming a client) when we asked a couple how they met. As the husband (yes, the husband!) recollected the story, he started crying. The love and gratitude he had for his wife made his eyes sweat!
I’ve been in several meetings where we asked someone about their kids. Most of the time, it’s just an update. But, there have been plenty of times when mom or dad started crying. The tears came for lots of reasons - both good and bad, happy and tragic.
We have a client who started a non-profit that does incredible work in a third world country. He was in for a meeting and the financial advisor came out and got me just because he thought I’d enjoy meeting this client. I was interested in why he started the organization, so I asked about it. I wish all of you could have been in the room to hear him tell the story. When he got to the end, he couldn’t talk. The words wouldn’t come out. His silence and tears spoke louder than any words.
So, what makes you cry?
Recently, I got an email from one of my best friends in Long Beach. He’s a pastor there and shared the story of sitting down for coffee with someone who had no idea where to go with all the pain in his life. But, someone told him about my friend, and he just knew Bill was someone he could talk to. Just reading the email and imagining those two at the coffee shop made me cry. I found myself so glad this conversation happened.
At Thanksgiving, my mother and father-in-law thought it might be nice for everyone (three daughters, three son-in-laws and nine grandchildren) to talk about what we were grateful for. That seems innocent enough, right? Well, the tears just started flowing. Whoa, did they flow!
Here’s my thesis. Make sure you put some of your money in the direction of whatever it is that makes you cry. Why? Because tears are a revelation of the things you care most about and a window into your heart. And, as one of the world’s more influential spiritual leaders once said, “Where your money is, there your heart will be also.” There’s a connection between the two we need to pay attention to.
So, attend to your tears. They may serve as a very good guide for how best to use your wealth.