Financial Speaker
Rick has spoken to numerous consumer and professional organizations. He is an energetic, provocative, thoughtful and entertaining financial speaker and presenter who leaves people enlightened. Whether it’s a keynote speech, a presentation, or a week-long workshop, Rick brings his listeners an interactive experience that often changes lives.
The topics below are typically one- to two-hour presentations. However, all can be modified or combined to fill fifteen minutes, one-half day, or a full day.
Presentations
Consumer Financial Presentations
* Click on Presentation Titles below to learn more
- Money Skills – 21st Century’s Survival Skills
MONEY SKILLS – 21ST CENTURY’S SURVIVAL SKILLS
Good financial planning can be summed up in one simple sentence: “Save more, spend less, and don’t do anything stupid.” For most Americans, putting that simple sentence into action is incredibly difficult.
In this enlightening presentation, Rick provides a time-tested process to turn this simple sentence into a powerful reality.
If you are one of the 97 percent of Americans that have a net worth of under $500,000, this presentation will give you the tools that could change your life.
1. You will learn a time-tested method of cash flow management that allows you to spend every dime in your checkbook, yet insures all your bills will be paid.
2. You will discover how to eliminate the endless stream of ‘surprise’ expenses that kill so many well-intentioned spending plans.
3. You will find out what lifestyle you can really afford. It may be better than you think!
- All You Really Need to Know About Financial Planning
ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FINANCIAL PLANNING
Money skills are the 21st century’s survival skills.
You may have a great education, a successful career, or be the best in your field, yet if you don’t understand how to make sound money decisions you won’t be going far.
You don’t have to be a genius to make sound money decisions. In this informative presentation, Rick provides straight talk on financial planning, including what insurance you don’t need, when having a Will can actually be worse than not having one, and a method of spending yourself to prosperity.
1. You will learn the basics of creating a spending plan that really works:
2. What insurance you need or need to stay away from
3. How to determine how much you need to save for retirement
4. How to find and hire trustworthy advisers
5. Why smart people make dumb money mistakes
- What a ’63 Chevy Can Teach Us About Investing In An Uncertain World Economy
WHAT A ’63 CHEVY CAN TEACH US ABOUT INVESTING IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD ECONOMY
Where do you invest in a world of increasing government spending, high unemployment, struggling economies, high taxes, and an equal chance of inflation or deflation? Most investors, and some of their advisers, could learn a thing or two from the ’63 Chevy Wagon with a 283 hp engine.
In this unique presentation, Rick provides you the investment strategies of the nation’s best money managers in a simple and easy-to-understand formula.
You will learn:
1. Why most forms of diversification don’t work
2. A proven strategy for keeping your emotions from ruining your investments
3. A worry-free method of consistently selling high and buying low
4. How to consistently earn returns two to three times higher than the “average” investor.
- Financial Sobriety Skills for A Nation Out-Of-Control
FINANCIAL SOBRIETY SKILLS FOR A NATION OUT-OF-CONTROL
Something is not working with the way most Americans relate to their money.
Just like an alcoholic, we became intoxicated on easy credit, financial entitlements, and living a lifestyle that was a lie. But how do we wean ourselves from financial dependency and take control of our lives?
In this unusual presentation, learn the symptoms that keep people trapped in financial lethargy and how you can gain control of your life and get your financial house in order.
Rick provides specific time-tested principles to set you on the path to financial sobriety and recovery.
You will learn:
1. How to recognize the signs of financial dependency
2. How to take responsibility for yourself and propel yourself to action
3. How to identify financial enabling and save your loved ones from the shame
4. How to find out where your values are out of integrity with your financial behaviors.
- The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge
THE FINANCIAL WISDOM OF EBENEZER SCROOGE
In the timeless traditions of The Tao of Pooh and Who Moved My Cheese, Rick reveals how the wisdom in Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol can help financial professionals facilitate financial health.
The premise is simple: Money isn’t the problem; it is an unhealthy belief system and the relationship we and our clients have with money that matters.
The character of Ebenezer Scrooge is the perfect model for exploring the elements of interior finance and how it applies to your financial planning. In the context of the story, we explore the stages of financial integration as they relate to Scrooge’s journey into his past, present and future.
Learn how the three elements of financial integration are used to help you reach a more clear understanding of money and achieve financial peace.
1. Use the metaphor of A Christmas Carol to understand your financial behaviors.
2. Discover why every financial behavior makes perfect sense.
3. Learn the five steps to financial transformation.
- Asset Protection – Protecting Your Assets from The Unthinkable
ASSET PROTECTION – PROTECTING YOUR ASSETS FROM THE UNTHINKABLE
Many people think their assets are protected because they have liability insurance, only to find out that insurance is not always enough. That’s what Rick discovered when he was faced with a frivolous lawsuit that lasted nine years.
Find out what you can do to protect your business, real estate, and liquid assets when your insurance company either won’t pay your claim, goes bankrupt, or your coverage just isn’t enough.
This is mandatory information if you are in a high profile profession, own a business or real estate, or have a net worth over $1 million.
You will learn:
1. Why you should never own anything in your own name.
2. Why you need to get out of most partnerships.
3. How a South Dakota asset protection trust can protect your assets.
4. How to put most of your assets beyond the reach of a frivolous lawsuit.
- Planning Like King Tut
Ben Franklin once said, “but in the world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” We know both will happen, and yet we only talk about taxes.
Planning for what will happen after you die can be very difficult, but it is necessary if you want to protect your interests and your loved ones.
Great intentions can go awry too quickly without proper planning. This presentation will walk through the necessary steps to plan for your estate.
In this informative workshop, we will give you information on what you can do today to be fully prepared for when (not “if”) you pass into death. You’ll learn about:
1. Money scripts around estate planning that cause more harm than good.
2. Questions you need to ask before drafting your will.
3. Why your will may not be the actual way your estate is distributed.
4. The six items you must have in your Master File.
- What Is Financial Planning, Really?
WHAT IS FINANCIAL PLANNING, REALLY?
Millions of “financial advisors” claim to do financial planning, but what does that really mean? Since financial planning isn’t a legally protected term, anyone can call themselves a financial planner.
We will give you the knowledge you need to know the difference between financial advisors that claim to be doing financial planning and those that are actually doing it.
1. Learn all the components that are involved in comprehensive financial planning.
2. Discover three reasons why your “financial planner” may not really be doing financial planning.
3. Learn ten things to look for, and look out for, when shopping for a financial planner.
- Spending Your Way To Wealth
SPENDING YOUR WAY TO WEALTH
According to a recent study, 70% of Americans live month-to-month and only 5% are financially independent by the time they retire. Sadly, most Americans simply over-spend, over-borrow, and under-save.
One reason is Americans don’t know how to track or forecast their annual income and expenses.
In this presentation you will:
1. Explore the different systems of cash flow management
2. Learn to budget where you can still spend every last dime in your checking account
3. Learn how to effortlessly track your income and expenses
4. Discover ways to take control of your finances.
- In a World Of Financial Wolves, What’s A Sheep To Do? – Strategies For Keeping Your Money Safe
IN A WORLD OF FINANCIAL WOLVES, WHAT’S A SHEEP TO DO? – STRATEGIES FOR KEEPING YOUR MONEY SAFE
If you were looking for financial advice, where would you go? Who would you trust?
Many turn to family and friends, while others turn to their trusted financial advisor. How do you know if the advice you are getting from your trusted advisor is really the best for you?
We will explore the differences between financial advisors that are your advocates, and those that might be looking out primarily for themselves.
In this presentation you will discover:
1. Why you might want to be a client instead of a customer
2. Why selling financial products is more profitable than giving advice
3. How to tell the difference between a financial advisor and a financial salesperson
4. Why you don’t want financial advice from a salesperson
5.How to know when you need advice and when you need a salesperson
6. Why it’s important you know if your advisor is or is not a fiduciary
7. What to look for in a financial advisor.
- Investing In An Uncertain World
INVESTING IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD
In the Great Recession, the Dow Jones Average dropped 54% in just 17 months and then recovered to 85% of its 2007 high.
Where and how should you invest now?
In this presentation, you will learn several simple ways you can protect yourself from a volatile stock market.
You will learn:
1. About the changes in the world economy that are taking place
2. To consider if we are in a different world calling for different investment strategies
3. New strategies to diversify your investment portfolio
4. Why your portfolio probably isn’t diversified, even though you think it is
5. Why diversification isn’t having money with different advisors, mutual funds, or fund groups
6. Why you need some losers in your portfolio
7. How successful investing is like a V-8 engine.
- Protecting Your Assets From Instantaneous Destruction
PROTECTING YOUR ASSETS FROM INSTANTANEOUS DESTRUCTION
Imagine saving money your entire life, only to have someone take every dollar you have because of a lawsuit. How awful would that be?
There are many great ways to protect yourself from a situation like this. Learn how to protect yourself and your family in the face of an unforeseen event.
1. Learn about your line of first defense: various types of insurance.
2. Learn the things that can go terribly wrong with liability insurance.
3. Find out how you can sleep well at night even if your liability insurer denies your claim.
4. Learn how to determine which insurance is best for you and your family.
5. Find out the things most insurance sales companies wouldn’t want you to know.
6. Are there things you can do other than purchase insurance?
- The Best Financial Planning Is Done When You’re Young
THE BEST FINANCIAL PLANNING IS DONE WHEN YOU’RE YOUNG
How many times have you thought, “I will start saving when I’m older and have more money,” or “I don’t need to focus on my finances, there’s time for that later”?
The best time to begin your financial planning is today.
Learn why those who start financial planning in their youth become financially independent sooner, are healthier, and are happier in retirement than those who wait.
1. Do you really need a financial plan if you are young?
2. What can you do to protect yourself and the ones you love?
3. Learn why saving money isn’t just something you do when you are rich.
Professional Presentations
* Click on Presentation Titles below to learn more
- It Takes Two – A Look at Conjoint Financial Therapy
IT TAKES TWO – A LOOK AT CONJOINT FINANCIAL THERAPY
The premier financial planning experience of the future could involve a two person team that incorporates a client-focused financial therapist with a technical-oriented financial planner.
Very few planners or therapists are equipped to deliver both. Most embrace the analytical planning or the client relationship. Acquiring the offsetting skill is often viewed as a necessary evil to do what they really love, the planning or the client relationship.
With this new model, planners and therapists no longer must fit a round part of their professional interest and personality into a square hole. The result is a phenomenal client experience and a planning team that all function at the top of their skill set.
You will Learn:
1. A method to exponentially improve the client experience
2. Define conjoint financial therapy
3. Identify the benefits of conjoint financial therapy
4. Discuss the challenges of conjoint financial therapy
5. Experience one model of how a financial planner and therapist work conjointly
6. This session will appeal to new and experienced financial planners, financial therapists, and financial coaches, giving them a new vision of what could be.
- When What You See Isn’t What You Get
WHEN WHAT YOU SEE ISN’T WHAT YOU GET
Rick Kahler, MSFP, ChFC, CFP®, was never referred to as a “widely followed planner” until he voluntarily publicized he was out of compliance with the CFP Board’s fee-only definition.
What followed was a 15-month battle to define and understand the Board’s policies. Along the way, what he learned as a result left him questioning the value of the CFP(R) mark, the fee-only branding, and the concept of fiduciary.
Join Rick in a thoughtful discussion as he explores widely held myths around fee-only, the fiduciary standard, and the CFP(R) designation.
- A Look Into The Future: The Evolution of Financial Planning
A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE: THE EVOLUTION OF FINANCIAL PLANNING
This presentation looks into the possible evolution of financial planning.
Today, most financial planning curriculums are primarily numbers-based, with very little emphasis or training in client communication skills. Few acknowledge the research of Daniel Kahneman that finds 90% of all financial decisions are made emotionally that is by the Limbic System.
Further, the most popular career path today assumes the new financial planning graduate or employee becomes a “junior planner” first, performing numbers facing duties and serving as a note taker in client meetings while they learn the craft from the “senior planner”.
Learning the craft implies they will add and develop their client-facing skills, eventually becoming a senior planner. Inherent in being a senior planner is less involvement with the development of the financial plan and more emphasis on business development.
The presentation proposes the profession may have it backwards. While it builds a case for the importance of client facing skills, it suggests those skills are best taught to planners who do not have a love, or even much of an interest, in the numbers.
Perhaps empowering financial planners to excel at what they love is the future of the financial planning career track, which may find planners practicing in teams of two: a number facing planner and a client-facing planner.
Rick offers a new model, Integrated Financial Planning that includes traditional financial planning, and adds financial coaching and financial therapy.
The personality profiles of each position are examined with an emphasis on matching financial professionals to the appropriate position, rather than forcing them to acquire skills in areas that are not, and never will be, their unique genius.
In this model, the client is fully served by a “full brain” that is, a planner who is an expert in client communications that can assist the client in behavioral change, and a planner that is an expert on all the financial and numerical parts of the financial plan, who lays out the case for behavioral change.
- The Coming Convergence of Therapy and Financial Planning
THE COMING CONVERGENCE OF THERAPY AND FINANCIAL PLANNING
Financial therapy is an evolving discipline that you will hear much more about in the coming years. And unlike a lot of therapy, Rick Kahler, a financial therapy pioneer, says “It’s a team event which involves a financial planner.”
The premier financial planning experience of the future will involve a two-person team that incorporates a client-focused financial therapist with a technical-oriented financial planner. Very few planners or therapists are equipped to deliver both. Most embrace the analytical planning or the client relationship. For either discipline, acquiring the offsetting skill is often viewed as a necessary evil to do what they really love, the planning or the client relationship.
With this new model presented by Mr. Kahler, planners and therapists no longer must fit a round part of their professional interest and personality into a square hole.
The result is a phenomenal client experience and a planning team that all function at the top of their skill set.
You Will Learn:
1. A new vision of career development
2. A scientifically proven way to successfully treat money disorders
3. A method to exponentially improve the client experience
4. This session will appeal to new and experienced therapists, financial therapists, and financial coaches, giving them a new vision of what could be.
- Practice Management 3.0 – Holacracy
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT 3.0 – HOLACRACY
What do Zappo’s, Colman-Knight Advisors, and Kahler Financial Group have in common? All three companies are among the pioneers of adopting Holacracy, a system of governance that has revolutionized how their firms operate.
You will hear first-hand experiences and reflections of financial planners who implemented Holacracy in their organizations.
They will offer insights into how Holacracy’s whole system approach changed how decisions are made and by whom.
You will learn how Holacracy revolutionized staff meetings to where employees take a 100% responsibility of projects and how the process highlights gaps in the recruiting process, engagement issues, and provides clarity of everyone’s accountabilities.
You will discover how implementing Holacracy changes the role of a Founder or CEO, and what distributed power looks and feels like as Holacracy assists to unleash the genius of all partners and employees month by month.
- The Money Atom – An Experiential and Visual Tool For Exploring the Client Family’s Money History
THE MONEY ATOM – AN EXPERIENTIAL AND VISUAL TOOL FOR EXPLORING THE CLIENT FAMILY’S MONEY HISTORY
The Money Atom exercise is an experiential and visual tool that interactively engages a client in exploring and telling his family’s money history.
This communication process, developed by psychologists, replaces the traditional interview method of discovering a client’s money history that can feel scripted or leave the client stumped. It combines a traditional genogram with family sculpt that can be done with pencil and paper in a planner’s office.
This communication method deepens and enhances the client’s experience by engaging the right and left sides of the brain, opening new understanding into how they made historical financial decisions.
The exercise uses a blank piece of paper where the client “draws” rather than “writes” how money was viewed in his family and then “tells” the story to the financial planner. Participants will leave the session with the general knowledge of how to use the tool in their client data gathering process.
- Let’s Stop Putting Square Pegs Into Round Holes
LET’S STOP PUTTING SQUARE PEGS INTO ROUND HOLES
The best practices no longer bring up talent in the ways of the past, starting a future planner out as a paraplanner, promoting them to being a junior planner, and then finally becoming a senior planner.
The premier financial planning experience of the future will involve a two-person team that incorporates exquisite listening and communication skills with detailed technical knowledge and financial solutions. Very few planners are equipped to deliver both. Most embrace the analytical planning or the client relationship. Acquiring the offsetting skill is often viewed as a necessary evil to do what they really love, the planning or the client relationship.
With this new model, planners no longer must fit a round part of their professional interest and personality into a square hole.
The result is a phenomenal client experience and a planning team that all function at the top of their skill set.
You will Learn:
1. A new vision of career development
2. A method to exponentially improve the client experience
3. Awareness of tools to help build a star-studded staff
4. This session will appeal to both senior planners, junior planners, and entry level planners just entering the field by giving them a new vision of what could be.
- Expanding Your Practice By ‘Shrinking’ Your Clients – Exploring The Planner Therapist Alliance
EXPANDING YOUR PRACTICE BY ‘SHRINKING’ YOUR CLIENTS
New research finds that 90% of clients make financial decisions emotionally.
That isn’t good news for most financial professionals who are highly trained on the technical aspects of their profession but are woefully under-educated on the communication skills necessary to facilitate behavioral change.
As a result, financial professionals are beginning to bring psychologists into their tool kit.
Rick will give you new insight and practical information on how involving a psychologist in your planning process can add value to your clients.
He will explore how to decide when to bring in a therapist or coach and how to select and integrate them into your practice.
- The Killer App to a Best Practices Firm
THE KILLER APP TO A BEST PRACTICES FIRM
Bob Veres describes Rick Kahler as a “serial innovator in the planning world.”
In this session, Rick will unveil what he calls the single most effective practice management strategy he’s seen for transforming your practice and your life.
Bob Veres called this presentation “one of the best pure practice management sessions I’ve ever attended in the profession, even though it contained barely a word of traditional practice management advice.”
In this ground-breaking session, Rick explores the reasons, based on his award-winning research, that financial planners give for not having a financial planner. He explains why engaging a financial planner pays double dividends.
1. Gain new insight into the personal benefits of a financial planner having a planner.
2. Gain even greater insight into the practice management benefits of a financial planner employing a planner.
3. Raise new questions on what constitutes a profession and whether financial planning is indeed an industry or a profession.
- There Are No Difficult Clients – Just Advisers Who Have Run Out Of Tools
THERE ARE NO DIFFICULT CLIENTS – JUST ADVISERS WHO HAVE RUN OUT OF TOOLS
Very few of a financial advisor’s clients have problems with money. The real problems lie in the relationships that both advisors and clients have with money, especially when those relationships are based on an unhealthy belief system about money.
Further, few financial advisers really have the ‘solution’ to our client’s needs. We can, however, become expert facilitators at helping clients achieve the life of their dreams.
Facilitating financial health requires more than presenting spreadsheets, cash flow statements and asset allocation models.
It requires an understanding of the kind of life the client envisions and how the client’s emotional and psychological predispositions facilitate or obstruct (or both) the development of successful financial plans.
This presentation will give you a glimpse into the best practices of financial advisers who are integrating the fields of psychotherapy, coaching, and traditional financial planning.
This workshop will help you:
1. Learn how to build a trusting relationship with clients.
2. Identify your clients’ money scripts and the financial disorders they cause.
3. Explore the latest research used in facilitating change in individuals.
4. Understand the integrated financial planning process.
- Applying the Tools of the Masters – A Life Planner’s Search For The ‘Killer App’ of Life Planning
APPLYING THE TOOLS OF THE MASTERS – A LIFE PLANNER’S SEARCH FOR THE ‘KILLER APP’ OF LIFE PLANNING
How often do you pick up a great new tool at a conference, come home and implement it for one round of client meetings, scan the results, and it never again sees the light of day?
Have you ever wondered what handouts and processes are real life-planners using? What really works?
In this workshop, Rick Kahler, CFP®, will discuss the dozens of exercises, forms, and techniques being touted today by the best vendors of Life Planning.
Learn those he uses in his practice and he finds most effective.
The workshop will cover:
1. What life planning handouts/exercises offer the most value in working with clients?
2. When and how do you best present them to the client?
3. Which are best done as homework and which are best in a face-to-face meeting?
4. How to use video exercises to save client meeting time.
5. Which are most effective in terms of getting value/insight from the results?
6. Is the processing of exercises off-the-cuff or does a script work best?
- Leveraging Technology to Create a Happier and Healthier Life
LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE A HAPPIER AND HEALTHIER LIFE
Live the life of your dreams. Go where you want, with who you want, and work when you want.
Rick travels one week out of every month, yet maintains a vibrant ‘mature solo’ financial planning practice serving nearly 75 clients.
He shows you how to use technology to live a more fulfilling, richer and vibrant life, while also serving your clients.
You will learn about the technology and tools Rick uses:
1. Why his smart phone is an indispensable tool in his practice
2. How he uses VoIP to wonder the world and be accessible anywhere
3. How to use technology to work as a FTE.
- Supercharge Your Practice and Your Life – How One Adviser Made a Euro Star out of a Train Wreck
SUPERCHARGE YOUR PRACTICE AND YOUR LIFE – HOW ONE ADVISER MADE A EURO STAR OUT OF A TRAIN WRECK
Several years ago, Rick Kahler, President of Kahler Financial Group, lost 5 of 6 staff members.
He quickly learned his infrastructure, technology, and processes were inefficient, under-maximized, unstructured, and bloated with excess.
For the next year, Rick and his associate worked weekends and evenings to service clients, cut inefficiency, and embrace new technology to rebuild his practice.
Today profits are up 300%, he has a vibrant staff, he is paperless, communicates with clients only by email and his website, receives 50% of his new business from his blog, YouTube videos, and website.
He works out 2 hours a day, travels a week a month, and can operate his firm from anywhere in the world. Find out how you can supercharge your practice, increase your profitability and get your life back, by embracing technology.
1. How to create a non-virtual, virtual office that works for you.
2. What works and doesn’t work when outsourcing.
3. How to create a blog and website that supports clients, cuts expenses, and attracts prospects.
- Wiring Your Clients For Wealth – New Tools for Discovering and Changing Their Money Mindset
WIRING YOUR CLIENTS FOR WEALTH – NEW TOOLS FOR DISCOVERING AND CHANGING THEIR MONEY MINDSET
1. Tools for helping clients identify their money scripts
2. The ten top money scripts and tools to use to help clients change them
3. The top money scripts common to clients with or without money
4. How to use the Money Script Log, the Stock Market Money Timeline, and the Money Dialog with clients.
- Are You Tasting Your Own Cooking? – Practical Steps to Creating Integrity In Your Practice and Your Life
ARE YOU TASTING YOUR OWN COOKING? – PRACTICAL STEPS TO CREATING INTEGRITY IN YOUR PRACTICE AND YOUR LIFE
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey says a chef who doesn’t sample every dish is no chef at all.
Are you a consumer of the advice you give your clients?
Can you look your clients in the eye and assure them you embrace the same investment philosophy and invest in the same investment vehicles as you recommend to them? That you have a budget, track your expenses, and don’t use revolving credit, just as you advise them to do? That you have adequate disability, health, liability, life, property-casualty, and LTC insurance?
In this session Kahler will build upon his 2008 winning Frontiers Award paper and research to further explore the power and practicality of ‘walking the walk’.
1. An action plan ready to implement on Monday morning.
2. An inventory of personal and professional incompletions.
3. Increased integrity and stronger client connections.