In this episode of The Advisor's Fuel, Adam Koós breaks down why financial advisors build detailed plans for every part of a client's financial life, retirement income, tax strategy, insurance, estate planning, and almost never do it for themselves.
Adam walks through the four-part planning framework he revisits every year: values, vision, mission, and goals. He shows how to rank what actually matters, audit where your time really goes, and turn big personal and business goals into a plan you'll actually execute instead of just talk about.
Whether you're a solo advisor trying to get out of reactive mode, a practice owner scaling a team, or a CEPA-credentialed advisor guiding business owners through their own planning, this episode gives you a process to start with.
Episode Timestamps
[00:00] Welcome to the show
[01:03] Why "winging it" catches up with advisors
[02:05] The planning framework, built like a house: values, vision, mission, goals
[04:00] Ranking your top values and auditing where your time actually goes
[08:00] The "perfect day" exercise: designing your ideal life 5, 10, and 20 years out
[13:00] Turning goals into a business plan (and the income-to-hourly-rate math)
[17:00] An old-school trick for making your goals stick
Key Takeaways
💡 Advisors build detailed plans for every part of a client's financial life, but almost never for their own.
💡 The framework works like building a house: values are the foundation, vision is the framing, mission is the finish work, and goals get the car out of the driveway.
💡 Ranking your top values and comparing them to your actual calendar exposes the gap that leads to burnout.
💡 The "perfect day" exercise only works if you get specific, down to what you smell when you wake up and what you eat for breakfast.
💡 Big goals only become real once you break them down from a 3-year target into a 1-year, quarterly, and weekly plan.
💡 What you're willing to give up matters as much as what you're trying to gain.
Key Quotes
🗣 "We plan everything for our clients, but we rarely plan for ourselves."
🗣 "Whatever it is you want in life, you have to be willing to give up something of equal or greater value to get it." - Matt Halloran, quoted by Adam
🗣 "The truth is that the top 5% make the time to plan these things, because if they don't plan it, it's not gonna happen."
Connect With Adrenaline Advisor
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Email: info@adrenalineadvisor.com
Website: www.adrenalineadvisor.com
Connect with Adam Koos: Adam Koos, CFP, CMT, CFTe, CEPA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamkoos
Website: https://www.adrenalineadvisor.com
