“We wanted to solve robot problems and needed some vision, action, reasoning, planning, and so forth.” -Marvin Minsky
On a professional level, the 21st century will be defined by the balance of technology and the human experience. Technology is rapidly changing things. Everyone knows that. Avoiding technology in your business could be fatal. On the other hand, relying exclusively on it isn’t wise either. This policy would pull the plug on relationships. Our well-being depends on those relationships.
Is there an ideal solution? Not necessarily. There is a healthy process. A process of continual improvement in both areas. A philosophy where technology and our human nature team together to produce and deliver our best work. In the process, we best serve others. This challenge is going on in most industries. We can’t hide from it.
In financial planning, technology has done some amazing things.
WHAT TECHNOLOGY HAS DONE AND COULD DO:
Moved our financial plans from paper to online software (a DRASTIC improvement). We can update faster. We can measure and quantify with accuracy and in real-time. Plans aren’t stale, sitting in drawers idle for years. A prospective client can view and test out a plan before they purchase.
Simplified taking action, implementing plans, investing on principle. We can measure progress toward goal achievement. Building and maintaining an investment portfolio with proper allocation, diversification, and rebalancing can be done with consistency and based on scientific principle. It’s lowered costs, saving us money. We can set up programs to auto-invest (if we are building) or to auto-divest (if we are living off our portfolios) with ease and efficiency.
Provided infinite tools. Blogs, eBooks, PDFs, secure document storage and sharing, websites, computers, phones, tablets, remote meetings, and social media of all varieties. Communication is paramount. We can share our message fast and with less cost. While security is never perfect, technology does provide the means to a more secure financial planning experience.
The best financial planners, the ones we should look for, are part:
Scientist…..dissecting
Engineer…..solving
Therapist…..listening
Mathematician…..calculating
Mentor…..encouraging
Student…..learning
Advocate…..serving
Coach….strategizing
Advisor…..guiding
Teacher…..educating
But, there is a downside to over-reliance on technology. It does, like anything, have its limitations.
WHAT TECHNOLOGY HASN’T DONE AND CAN’T DO (YET):
Be a person. Can technology be the relationship? Can it walk with us through our challenges? Can it give us that empathy, look us in the eyes, grant full attention, and sit next to us? Can it know us? Do we want the known, friendly face or the “1-800 phone” customer experience? Will it smile at us and extend a warm genuine handshake.
Give peace of mind. Can technology confirm and validate our actions, our course, and our path? Will it know us and our family personally? Will it collaborate in meetings or on the phone with our other trusted and necessary advisors? Will it step in to assist our dear family and friends if we die suddenly?
Save us from ourselves. Will technology hold us accountable? Will it keep us on our financial plans? Will it prevent destructive investment behaviors of panic in down markets and greed in up ones? Will we bury our heads in technology with the false belief that it will somehow solve our problems and perfect our lives? Will it help us take right action, even when that action is emotionally tough and unlikely to happen on our own willpower?
Can we replace this entire experience with technology? The better question is, should we even try to? Or, should we use the best of technology to facilitate our strong need for the human experience? We can do both.
There are still places doing it the old fashioned way. Printing out plans and dropping a heavy booklet on us, over-using manual spreadsheet inputs. They are allocating and diversifying portfolios on whim and hunch. They are using stale methods, stale websites, and a stale service. They aren’t leveraging technology. We can do better.
Pick a place where technology and relationship are both highly valued. Where both are good. But more important, where both are getting better. Insist on that philosophy. Constant change. Constant improvement. Keep making progress.
“Technology presumes there’s just one right way to do things and there never is.” -Robert Pirsig
