153: Rethinking Goals-Based Financial Planning: Using Behavioral Experiments to Improve Client Outcomes with Meghaan Lurtz

Most financial planning is built around goals. 

Goals like: 

• Retiring at 60 
• Spending more time traveling 
• Leaving a legacy through philanthropy  

But there’s a structural flaw in that model: human beings are notoriously poor predictors of their future preferences. What we think will make us happy at 60 often looks very different once we get there. 

Yet as Advisors, we routinely ask clients to define long-term goals without fully pressure-testing the assumptions behind them.  

In this episode, Meghaan Lurtz explains how we can shift away from the shortcomings of goals-based planning by focusing on the power of experiments. 

Instead of asking our clients to commit to big, static goals, we can help them design small, intentional experiments. 

Help them test the retirement, test the travel, and test the hobbies they “think” they’ll enjoy one day. 

Because a client who has tried something knows what they want. And an Advisor who helps them get there becomes indispensable. 

If you want deeper conversations, more engaged retirees, and clients who actually use their money in ways that improve their lives, then this episode offers a practical framework you can implement immediately. 

You’ll Learn: 

• Why goals-based planning may be unintentionally limiting your clients’ happiness 
• The simple 4-step experiment framework that unlocks confident spending and clearer decisions 
• How to help chronic under-spenders safely test higher spending without triggering fear 
• Why debriefing client experiences may be more powerful than the financial plan itself 

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