George Kinder, an internationally renowned financial philosopher often referred to as “the father of life planning,” will soon be moving to London to launch the next phase of his work.
Kinder was recently awarded an Innovator Founder visa by the UK in recognition of his groundbreaking work in financial life planning. The UK Home Office, a ministerial department, grants this type of visa to founders of UK startups that it deems innovative, viable, and scalable across cultures. Kinder plans to provide advice to companies and their employees on how to build values-based, trustworthy organizations that are efficient, productive and profitable.
Kinder founded the Massachusetts-based Kinder Institute of Life Planning in 2003 after 30 years as a practicing financial advisor and tax advisor. The visa will enable him “to deepen his mission to transform workplaces into environments as inspired and purpose-driven as the lives of Life Planning clients worldwide,” said a press release from the UK Home Office.
By integrating his life-planning principles into organizations, Kinder plans to empower employees with “personal vision, values-aligned work, and leadership rooted in mindfulness, empathy, and meaning,” said the release.
“For decades, Life Planning has helped individuals discover and live their most authentic lives,” Kinder said in the release. “Now, it’s time we bring that same inspiration into our organizations — starting with financial firms and B Corps but extending to every corner of industry.”
During an interview with Rethinking65 several years ago, Kinder shared how he got into life planning. “I never felt that taxes or financial planning was what I was born to do, but I had to make a living,” he said. “What interested me more were questions of meaning, nuances of relationships, and the nature of civilization itself.”
“When I saw clients who were losing a lot of that spark, that inspiration, that energy, that excitement about life, and feeling that instead they had to pay the bills, I wanted to figure out how I could also deliver more freedom into their lives. Money was clearly a piece of that,” he said. “As a financial advisor, I could bring financial skills to the areas I think we’re all passionate about: To live a life with meaning, to live a life of freedom, and to live a life of purpose.”
3 Critical Questions
Kinder, who has trained thousands of advisors, over the years has long encouraged them to pose these critical questions to their clients — the responses of which he says have remained pretty similar over time:
Unique Opportunities Across the Pond
Kinder is eager to move to London to further his work.
“The United Kingdom — with its progressive stance on corporate responsibility and the highest number of B Corporations globally — is the ideal launching pad for this movement,” he said in the release. “London’s unique position as a financial powerhouse and a single flight from most of the world’s business capitals offers unmatched influence to spread the values of Life Planning worldwide.”
The Kinder Institute’s training methodology of life planning will continue to operate globally through retreats and professional development courses. Kinder’s next mindfulness-based Evoke Planning Training is scheduled for September 15-20 in Cornwall, England.
Jerilyn Klein is editorial director of Rethinking65.
Unique Opportunities Across the Pond