Episode summary
Should Advisors Provide Opinions Or Let Clients To Choose Their Path? - Kitces & Carl Ep 183
Financial Advisor Success (Kitces)
· · 35 min · Hosts: Michael Kitces · Guests: Carl Richards
Summary
The conversation centers on a tension in financial advice: clients often want the advisor’s opinion, but planners also need to avoid imposing their own values on the client’s plan. Carl Richards argues that good advice means helping clients see trade-offs clearly, not forcing a single “right” answer where the decision is really about values. He says the advisor’s presence already biases what clients say, so the work begins by creating space for clients to clarify what matters to them.
The examples range from debt payoff to education funding to family travel. Carl Richards draws a sharp distinction between cases where he can stay objective and cases where his own beliefs start leaking in, especially around paying off a 3.5% mortgage versus keeping money invested. He and the host also explore the point at which planning should move from coaching-style questioning to a direct recommendation.
The discussion ends by framing planning as closer to coaching than surgery, while acknowledging that advisors still have a duty to say when a choice is likely to create a bad outcome. The key is timing: the advisor may give the same advice, but only after enough discovery for the client to hear it clearly.
Key takeaways
- Carl Richards says advisors should keep their values off clients’ plans while still offering clear, opinionated guidance when the trade-offs are obvious.
- The host argues that a 48-year-old spending heavily on family trips may be choosing more current joy at the cost of a later retirement date.
- Carl Richards is far more comfortable challenging a client who wants to pay off a 3.5% mortgage with invested assets than a client who prioritizes travel.
- The host says advice is often too early, and that better questioning can make the eventual recommendation more useful and more acceptable.
- Both agree that clients’ money stories, family history, and culture can make the same financial choice feel either obviously right or obviously wrong.
Notable quotes
“I want my doctor, my financial planner, the guy at the ski shop, like I want them to tell me what to do”
“Your advice almost always sucks because it's almost always too early”
How the episode opens
Greetings, Carl. — Hello, Michael Kitsus. How are you? — I'm doing well. We are kicking off 2026, so probably be into February by the time everyone hears this, but we we are here in January, fresh off the new year, planning for a new year. What's what's on the docket for you in 2026, Carl?
Oh, that's Man, that's a fun question. My My wife actually asked me that the other night like, "We should make a plan." I was like, "I don't want to make a plan." Plans anyway. I was She was like, "Isn't that your job?" I'm like, "No,
No, Cory, it's about the planning is more of a process really about the process and the journey." — I'm way more into I think on P there's like these polls, planning and emergence, and I'm way more into emergence, just seeing what shows up. But but yeah, I I um I'm really interested in deepening having more like this is the year of conversation for me. Um
So, you know, getting 50 fires back up and running in some form. — Okay. — Keeping this this going. Uh enjoying um the Society of Advice. We've really got a incredible lineup of guests this year, which I'm super excited about. So, I'm just finding I'm really enjoying conversations and so I want to make it like the year of conversations after writing a book, you know? It's like the year of conversations.
Okay. It's like an octay thing like you write for a year and then you talk for a year and you write for a year and you talk — I kind of It's interesting because I we we had that conversation like I I've already started writing again which shocked me.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- client communication
- financial advice opinions
- client values
- no right answer scenarios
- coaching vs advice
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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Financial Advisor Success (Kitces), this episode and its artwork belong to Michael Kitces. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
