Along with Kinder and Covey, Michael Gerber (The E-Myth) also proposes using a similar approach as the starting point for business owners and entrepreneurs developing a strategy for their businesses.

The Kinder approach differs because it is based on a dialogue between the client and the planner. The three questions form the basis for a conversation called “Lighting the Torch” in which the planner helps the client work out what is profoundly important to them. One aim of this conversation is to uncover “secret sorrows”, those desires and plans that so often remain buried because of a fear they will never be possible – something a paper exercise may not achieve.

The three questions is just the tip of the iceberg of the life financial planning process. Financial planners who have joined the nascent life planning movement believe that it is necessary to address the “human side of money” as well as the figures and financial products of conventional financial planning. To be at ease with money we must come to terms with the often emotive aspects of money, the pain around money and our past money experiences that influence the way we handle money today.

We all have much to learn in this new approach to life and money, but the results so far are very promising.