What's Missing Isn't the Money with James Roberts | Financial Planner Search

<p>In this episode of Financial Planner Search, James Roberts, founder of Intentional, talks about what is left after the title and the income are already there.</p><p>He entered the business in 2007 because he wanted to get rich. Within three years his brother was diagnosed with cancer, he nearly died in a car accident, and his third son was the 46th child born with a rare genetic syndrome. The work he had been doing, telling people whether they could hit a retirement age and handing them a plan that looked like everyone else's, stopped feeling honest. He noticed that clients who were unhappy while they worked were still unhappy once they got there. Intentional exists to connect purpose to wealth in a way you can actually see in the accounts.</p><p>The doorway is a 30-minute Wealth Identity Assessment. It reads 190 points and, before James asks a question, describes how someone feels about earning, saving, spending, and growing money. He also learns whether they think, feel, or act first, and the advice follows that order. A widow who inherited money and only wanted her husband back started in municipal bonds she could understand. A year of teaching later, she held stocks and private equity because she understood them. An HVAC owner in Maryland was ready to sell the company he had been given at 23 so three children could inherit evenly. His 50-year-old son was already running it. James asked what would change if the father said so out loud. The son took the company, later tripled it, and still tells James the gift was his father's confidence. James's line on that story: an extra 3% a year would not have changed those four lives.</p><p>Takeaways</p><p>- Why three personal crises ended the "know your number" version of his practice</p><p>- How a 30-minute assessment describes your relationship with money before you answer a question</p><p>- What changes when he knows whether you think, feel, or act first</p><p>- A succession where the lasting gift was a father's confidence</p><p>- Who he turns away: closed to looking at themselves, and only interested in this year's return</p><p><br />Chapters</p><p>00:00 Three Years That Changed the Practice</p><p>03:10 The Wealth Identity Assessment</p><p>04:15 Bonds She Could Understand</p><p>08:43 Think, Feel, or Act First</p><p>13:26 The One-Drink Rule</p><p>14:59 Who He Will Not Take</p><p>18:39 The HVAC Owner and His Son</p><p>23:41 Training the Next Advisors</p><p>27:12 Mentors and the Causes That Shaped Him</p><p>2