Written By: Shari Evans AFC®, MQFP® - Your AFCPE Kids Corner Contributor Inspiring Kids to be Financially Literate
Most parents remember the classic shape-sorting toy — the one where children try to fit square, circle, and triangle pegs into their matching holes. Watching a child twist and test each shape before finding the right fit is a familiar scene.
As I reflected on the New Year and what it means for financial professionals, that toy came to mind. Teaching personal finance to adolescents and adults can feel surprisingly similar — watching clients attempt to fit peg-shaped financial decisions into peg-shaped financial solutions. The reality is simple: one-size-fits-all personal finance strategies don’t work.
With that analogy in mind, we can structure our professional
guidance to help clients align their financial resources with their personal goals. This alignment can be expressed in four phases: Assess, Plan, Execute, and Reassess.
Assess
Every effective plan begins with an honest assessment. In education, standardized assessments help establish a baseline of understanding. In financial practice, we can apply the same principle by guiding clients through a clear-eyed review of their current financial reality.
This assessment should be raw and unfiltered — a true reflection of debt, delinquent accounts, savings, investments, and retirement balances. Only when we understand where clients stand can we responsibly guide where they are going.
Plan
Once a client’s financial position is clear, the planning phase begins. Here, we co-create a strategy aligned with their priorities and capacity. A useful principle is to start with the end in mind.
For example, when a client wants to save for a child’s college education, meaningful planning conversations may include:
- What resources are already earmarked for education expenses?
- How much support do you need to provide?
- Can education savings be funded while maintaining retirement contributions?
- How many years remain before funds are needed?
- Are multiple children involved in the plan?
- How should unused funds be redirected if circumstances change?
- What monthly savings amount is required to meet the target?
This collaborative process transforms broad goals into actionable steps.
Execute
A plan has value only when implemented. Once the strategy is built, the client moves into action — opening accounts, automating contributions, and following through on agreed behaviors. This framework works equally well for adult clients and adolescents developing early financial habits.
Reassess
Financial planning is not static. The beginning of a new year offers a natural opportunity to review progress and ensure alignment with evolving goals.
Returning to the education example, clients may discover they are ahead or behind schedule — or that college plans have changed entirely. When circumstances shift, we pivot. Continuing to fund an unnecessary account makes no more sense than trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
Closing Thought
As you begin a new year with your clients — and the next generation of financial learners — consider guiding them through a cycle of assessing, planning, executing, and reassessing. This is how we help every client find their right financial fit.
Shari Evans is a retired Army Officer, Military Qualified Financial Planner (MQFP®), and Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC®). With over 20 years of leadership and financial counseling experience serving clients across the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, she specializes in helping service members, military families, and professionals take control of their finances, eliminate debt, and build lives aligned with their goals and values. Connect with Shari on LinkedIn and view her FindAnAFC.org profile to learn more about her practical approach to financial wellness.
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