We sat down with myprosperity partner Tim Henry to discuss his company’s strategy to help his clients develop a clear life vision, which is used to better align their finances with their personal beliefs and ambitions.

Tim Henry is a financial adviser and owner of Aspire, a planning firm located in the southern suburbs of Melbourne. He’s created a service called Dream Catcher, a process which encourages clients to articulate and write down what’s important to them so that he can assist making their dreams and aspirations a reality through their financial plans.

Dream Catcher has just been piloted with a few clients going through the process.

“The client outcomes have exceeded our expectations. The clients absolutely loved the program,” Tim said.

Tim Henry was inspired to start this program after seeing many of his clients come in with no clear idea or direction about what they wanted to achieve as an outcome of their financial plans.

“The thing was I was seeing more and more people coming through without a vision for what they wanted to achieve. They were screaming for help,” Tim said.

Dream Catcher is all about identifying priorities, helping clients clearly define their life vision. This might include the way they see their children’s future, their experiences as a family or what they want to do in their retirement. The process has surprised Tim about how willingly clients open about their hopes and dreams.

“Clients developed some very personal insights during the process. Because of this emotional connection, we know that our clients will have even more commitment to the strategies that we put in place.  That’s fantastic for our clients, but also good for our business,” Tim said.

Tim can foresee the service as a permanent component to the business that should help sell other advice based services and products including estate planning. However, his main motivation is not fiscal – he just wants to help his clients and create a solid ongoing relationship with them.

“The service is perfect for young families who may have had a clear direction when they were first married, but then lost their way after they had kids – the service helps them reset their game plan,” Tim said.

And while the above sentiment may appear disingenuous on paper, from the lips of Tim Henry it rings with truth and conviction. However, Tim is quick to point out that it’s not for everyone. His clients had very polarising experiences of this new approach.

“In terms of feedback, clients either loved or completely hated it – some good feedback was they felt safe and trusting because we provided more direction and a badly needed plan.  Others also found it confronting in the first instance but are now seeing the value in that initial self challenge.” Tim said.

How does it work?

Without giving away too much of Tim’s intellectual property, we can reveal that the first step in the process is to attend a workshop that is designed to help with developing a vision that is based on happiness and prosperity. Step two involves a small amount of private homework, expanding on the vision.

The last step brings it all together and participants are provided with their own Dream Catcher. This is a professionally published booklet which is their own personal documented Life Vision. This provides the clients of Aspire with clarity, direction, inspiration and motivation to not just create a financial plan but to make it happen.

The booklet is designed to be a reminder to keep them on track. Because it is written in their own words, we feel that our clients will have more motivation to chase their dreams. Tim also believes that this will appeal to other service providers, especially accountants.

“When your clients are turning up with a clear direction on what they wish to achieve, developing a successful, tailored strategy for them becomes more likely,” Tim said.

We love Tim’s enthusiasm for coming up with an unconventional solution that appeals to the emotional needs of his clients. We wish him the best of luck with this new endeavour.