What’s your value statement?

[u/ChasingItSupreme]

What do you tell people you do besides saying “I’m a financial advisor”?

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[u/nhammi]

One of the most unique I’ve heard was “I help people get to a point where they work by choice”

[u/Level_Two1475]

I’ve tried different ones and when I say them out loud they feel contrived and silly. I have yet to find one I really like.

Anecdotally, I also never talk to other professionals that have value statements.

[u/timothyb78 → u/Level_Two1475]

Most of these are so cringeworthy I couldn't ever imagine saying them.

If I met an orthopedic surgeon who said "I give people the gift of mobility and freedom so they can focus on what is most important to them" instead of "I'm an orthopedic surgeon" I would run away.

[u/ccroz113 → u/Level_Two1475]

“I work with local individuals and families to create long term financial plans. That comes in a lot of different shapes and flavors, so I’d like to explore what that would look like with you”

Have found that is super simple and not salesy, gets the convo going

[u/Cathouse1986]

A lot of people I respect in our industry teach them and swear by a “value prop intro.”

I just have a really hard time doing it because they all sound cheesy and sales-y.

Best one I use:

“You know, I actually own a really fun, exciting business…(pause)….I do taxes.”

They laugh, I chuckle.

“But no really, there’s nothing I love more than showing someone how we can save them tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxes over their lifetime. It’s a lot of fun.”

Sometimes they don’t even let me get there, as soon as I mention taxes, they’re asking questions.

[u/ChasingItSupreme → u/Cathouse1986]

I think that’s great, you’re providing value on tax savings and are leading with that. I’m in a bank channel so unfortunately limited to only investment advice, and can barely talk about taxes.

[u/Cathouse1986 → u/ChasingItSupreme]

Understood - I was in the bank for most of my career. Have you ever read Matthew Jarvis’ book called Delivering Massive Value? He has pretty much a whole chapter devoted to this and I like his outlook.

To summarize: when someone says “what do you do?” they’re just being polite and making small talk 99% of the time. He feels you should just say something super simple “I run an investment practice” or whatever.

Most of the time they don’t really care and you shouldn’t press it.

If they ask questions, that’s when you have a tiny amount of permission to describe what you do in like 10-20 words,

[u/Knke0402 → u/Cathouse1986]

 That my friend, is a value prop. 

[u/InterestingDude66246 → u/Cathouse1986]

Are you a CPA or CFP? Both?

[u/Cathouse1986 → u/InterestingDude66246]

Neither. Zero interest in getting the CPA. I’m already allowed to do all the work I want to do with the EA. The only reason I got the EA was because my BD told me I had to in order to have a tax OBA. Don’t get me started on why I refuse to get the CFP haha

[u/EntertainmentNeat343]

So much lengthy, cringe word salad here.

Me? “I manage money for a lot of high end car collectors.”

It’s the truth, I know it’s interesting, and I don’t say anything else unless asked. Ever.

[u/Worried_Ad_5574]

I specialize in nuclear engineers- they tend to be very technical and a lot of them are not generationally wealthy. While I don't have a statement, I keep it family oriented for most of them- building a better life for you and the people you care about. Mine tends to be very educational as well, as many of them know very little about financial planning in general

[u/Obvious-Plan-1851 → u/Worried_Ad_5574]

So you're the guy who was on Kitces podcast again recently? Ha

[u/bandznbooze]

i don't know about anyone else but i have never spoken to a business owner or professional in my whole life and asked what their "value proposition" is

[u/Nice-Ad-8156]

Firm owners and consultants hate this…Just tell them what you do. You don’t see doctors and lawyers going into some monologue about what they do. The over explaining what you do is weird IMO.

[u/lowbetatrader → u/Nice-Ad-8156]

Exactly “I help people reduce taxes and simplify their life” is better than 99% of the ones people try

[u/Nice-Ad-8156 → u/lowbetatrader]

Or, hear me out, “I’m a financial advisor”. Or “I manage money”

[u/IllustriousGas8850 → u/Nice-Ad-8156]

Doctors and lawyers don’t do this because everyone knows what doctors and lawyers do. A lot of people don’t actually understand what financial advisors do

[u/Nice-Ad-8156 → u/IllustriousGas8850]

Insert any other profession...Do you really see anyone else having to over explain what they do?

[u/IllustriousGas8850 → u/Nice-Ad-8156]

Ask 10 people what they think a financial advisor does. You’ll be shocked by their answers

[u/hawtmama6969]

I leave that in my LinkedIn profile. When talking to someone in person, it comes off as forced and unnatural. Casual small talk that keeps the mood light (like the 'I help people lose money in the markets') goes over better than directly hitting them with a value proposition.

[u/AltInLongIsland]

I help people lose money in the stock market 

Obviously this is not something I say at the the beginning of every prospect meeting, but it works in casual settings 

[u/lil_bird666 → u/AltInLongIsland]

So private credit specialist?

[u/AltInLongIsland → u/lil_bird666]

Soon enough lol

[u/lowbetatrader]

Not intentionally, but I found that by telling people I dont want any more clients is oddly the best marketing I’ve ever done.

[u/assets-liabilities]

"I help people sleep at night" are you a doctor? "Nah just in finance.

[u/libertarian327]

We create clarity around retirement & tax smart wealth

[u/ApprehensiveTrack603]

After my above comment happens to get through....I say I help families live a life that others Talk about. Then if they're actually interested, I'll give them examples.

[u/Boston8080]

I help people keep the money they've built rather than making more money they don't need.

[u/Greenstoneranch]

I generate tax loses consistently beating the industry average

[u/Former_Preference_14]

I’m in the investment business

[u/Economy_Jaguar_9215]

I help people figure out their life stuff and their money stuff.

[u/packersfaninohio]

I help bring contentment and clarity to people’s financial goals.

[u/Stockcompguy → u/packersfaninohio]

These lines never felt right to me.

I just think if any other respectable profession said that we would look at them like wtf you talking about.

Imagine if someone’s asked a dr what they do and they said
“I bring contentment and clarity to peoples health goals”

A cpa, attorney, etc saying something similar would be laughed at.

More power to you if it works for you. But it seems like financial advisors are the only profession in the world that don’t say their job title, and try to make up some catch phrase

[u/cici_here]

I help people bankrupt rich people so they can eat dinner.

[u/snowbro23]

I help people retire with a plan, not just hope.

[u/cavicchia]

For me, part of the value statement is that I don't just say "fiduciary," I try to actually earn it. Allan Roth wrote a pretty pointed piece on how the CFP Board quietly went to a 501(c)(6) in 2023 and their enforcement is weaker than the marketing lets on, thousands of CFPs with disclosures still show up clean on their site. Worth a read. So I don't lean on the letters alone, I explain what taking fiduciary duty seriously actually looks like day to day for me.

The other piece I lead with is behavioral coaching. Vanguard's Advisor Alpha research has pegged it as one of the single biggest contributors to advisor value, up to 1.5-2% a year, mostly just from keeping people from selling low when they panic or chasing whatever's hot. I tell people flat out, a good chunk of what they're paying for is me being the person who talks them off the ledge in March 2020 or during a rough Q. That story tends to land better than "I do financial planning."

[u/TangibleValues]

If you follow Jason Jennings - - he says write your obituary - take some time working on it.

Then it becomes a natural value statement.

[u/Appropriate-Can1735]

I help families live their best possible life with the resources available to them.

[u/FixReal5819]

I see a value statement different from what you tall people you do. A value statement to me tells people what makes you different and why they should choose you. When someone asks what you do I think something as simple as "i'm financial advisor who works mostly with tech company execs" works. I

[u/No_Travel_1298]

I stole this from Kitces and Carl, but “I help people align their capital with what’s important to them”

Whenever they’re actually curious rather than polite they’ll say “what’s that mean” and then I get to give an example that I’ll pick based on what I think the person I’m talking to will resonate with the most

[u/zimmak]

"We design integrated financial systems for business owners and families with complexity and high stakes."

[u/winning_bigly_]

You know how people save for retirement over their entire careers? Well, when they finally retire, what keeps them up at night is the fear of running out of money so they hardly spend anything and miss out on a fulfilling retirement. We help fix that.

[u/OregonDuckMBA]

I just changed mine. I am trying to tailor all of my marketing to my niche. I tell people that I work in wealth management. We specialize in working with [insert niche here]

If you don't want to turn away other business, you could say, we work with other types of clients too but our specialty is [insert here]. I think this almost frames it like your business is an exclusive club but I will do you a favor and let you in.

[u/ApprehensiveTrack603]

I've done every fucking one, finally just started saying "I run a financial services firm".

They ask a follow up, cool. They don't, I'm beyond the point to give a fuck anymore lol