The Paradox
​The important subject of estate planning may be viewed as a paradox: 

On one hand, estate planning is a necessary process for the orderly and efficient control, management and transfer of an individual’s assets and estate. More bluntly, it’s what responsible and successful people do as a means of helping their families and successors avoid the perils of probate and a host of costly, administrative nuisances that come with disorganized estates.    

On the other hand, estate planning is often considered a complicated, intimidating legal matter that often evokes negative, yet subtle emotional responses having to do with considering our own imminent demise and how that unavoidable event ties into the subject of our finances. More bluntly, the idea of spending thousands of dollars, answering questions in an attorney’s office and discussing our future death (possibly with our spouse), is cringeworthy.  

Astute advisors and attorneys are generally insistent that clients review and update their estate planning documents periodically. Client’s generally postpone doing so and they procrastinate. This is understandable human behavior that we can acknowledge and overcome when we consider the following 3 analogies and their merits.      

Architecture & Construction 
Your estate plan is a set of blueprints for the future construction of a structure (house, building, museum). The blueprints of this structure represent the vision of your legacy. The estate plan documents you’ve signed and notarized are static, time stamped and dated- figuratively etched in stone and snapped into a 3-ring binder. These blueprints get printed, saved as .pdf files and or uploaded into the cloud. The architectural blueprints for any construction project are similarly dated, printed and timestamped. Accordingly, these documents age with time. 

The risk and dilemma: Over time, as zoning laws change, construction standards improve and building materials evolve and modernize, the architect’s blueprints remain rolled up and stored in cylindrical cardboard tubes. Many times, there are unforeseen delays. When it’s finally time to break ground on construction, (ie: the triggering event being your incapacity or death), the outdated plans can’t be carried out according to legal codes, industry standards and available construction materials.            

Hollywood Movie 
Your estate plan is a screenplay, the script for an Oscar winning film. The screenplay involves the producers and scriptwriters  (you & your spouse), a director (successor trustee), a movie set (state law),  the cast of actors and audience (your beneficiaries). Your script is composed of scenes and acts, literal future actions that you’ve imagined and dictated for the director to interpret, both literally and with a certain amount of creative subjectivity. You’ve included a happy ending where the actors ride off into the sunset, happily ever after.

The risks and dilemmas: When filming is set to begin (ie: the triggering event being your incapacity or death) the award winning director is no longer the Hollywood favorite, they’ve retired, slowed down or they’re otherwise no longer your best choice to do the job. Meanwhile, the movie set you had in mind is no longer suitable due to state laws, the studio moved operations or this type of filming is done digitally. The young actors you had in mind have aged (minors beneficiaries reaching adulthood) or circumstances changed (married, divorced, remarried with step-children, etc)        

Autobiography 
Your estate plan literally begins with an autobiography, a self-written account of your life. At the date of publishing it is entirely historical. By definition, there is no “ending” yet. This is where non-fiction turns into science fiction, the best-case scenario and predictive foretelling of your future intentions. With estate planning, you write your own ending- AND THE SEQUEL- to your life story. Similarly to an actual autobiography that you have published during your lifetime, your estate plan documents are dated- and they will age with time. Accordingly with an autobiography and your estate plan documents, you may want (or need) to reprint a revised edition. This is for the benefit of your reader and, in this example, for your heirs.   

The risk and dilemma: Leaving to chance how the original edition of your life’s story is interpreted by successor trustees, third parties and the courts has negative consequences that can outlive our own life expectancies by years. As long as we are still living and have the capacity to do so, we should ensure that our “happy ending” is realized by our loved ones.
Regularly reviewing and updating your estate planning documents ensures they remain aligned with your intentions, responsive to changing circumstances, and compliant with evolving laws. By adopting a proactive approach—such as annual or periodic “scenario testing”—you can prevent outdated plans from causing unintended consequences. The solution is simple: treat your estate plan as a living document, evolving with you, and review it with qualified professionals to secure your legacy and provide clarity and peace of mind for your loved ones.

​-D. Scott Bloom, CFP®

By D. Scott Bloom, CFP®
This article seeks to validate holistic wealthcare as a sustainable innovation in financial services and demonstrates how its application to investment advice and financial planning can lead advisors and their clients to achieve immensely more abundance and well being than traditional financial industry models. More importantly, this effort asks you to explore and uncover hidden opportunities to improve and sustain your overall results when you apply the holistic wealthcare methodology to your financial goals. 

It starts with two basic premises and asks readers for validation of both. From there, we build on these foundations to form a basis for a rationale to apply the Holistic Wealthcare approach to financial decision making and methods to identify when to do so.

The first premise: Groupthink impedes exceptional results. 

Example:
Groupthink describes members of a group - in this context, traditional financial advisors- who prioritize consensus and cohesion over critical analysis, individual opinions, or alternative solutions. Conformity to traditional norms prioritizes the harmony of adhering to the “status quo” the expense of critical evaluation and independent thinking. The pressures to conform to acceptable schools of thought create illusions of consensus that dismiss alternative strategies resulting in overconfidence in conventional decision making. In simple terms: Groupthink breeds complacency, leading us to substandard outcomes that work against our own best interests.  
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The second premise: Focusing on purely financially measured and tangible outcomes at the expense of subjective, non-tangible considerations impedes exceptional results and outcomes of comprehensive wellbeing that compliment wealth.  

Example: 
If markets are unbeatable over the long term and Efficient Market Theory is indeed valid, then the pursuit of sustainable, exceptional financial performance is elusive, at best, when measured solely in monetary metrics. In simple terms: When “more money” is the primary cause, the only resulting effect is “more money”. Then what?    
If we can simply agree on the merits of these two foundational premises above, a case emerges to validate holistic wealthcare as a more efficient means to deliver investment advice and to achieve long term well being. The old model that equated well being with dollars is broken.  

The world of financial services is all about money. By definition, by habit and by all reasonable critical observation, the money business is about money. Period. The End.

If that is true (and let’s assume for a moment that it is true), what are the effects of succeeding in the world of finance, or any other business pursuit when the outcomes are measured monetarily?  

Practical Observation 
A business owner said they were laser focused on the goal of “becoming the biggest company in the industry”. All of their effort, energy, time and resources were being dedicated to becoming the biggest. All of this focus on “biggest” came at great compromise and sacrifice of other parts of their life. Relationships, health and all of life’s truly important facets were being consciously subordinated to the goal of becoming the biggest. There would be nothing to stop this business owner and nobody else would impede them. That is, until they, themself, could take a few hours (or an entire day) to ask themself two easy questions:

1. How does one measure “biggest” and in what terms? 
2. Could one shift their goal to “becoming best” instead of “becoming the biggest” and how is that measured? 

The” biggest” is measurable in quantitative terms only, in volume of dollars and/or percentages represented in economic terms, (revenue, profit, market share or capitalization). Not only is “biggest” all about the money, it is ONLY about the money. 

Conversely, we measure the “best” both ways, expressed in qualitative (subjective) terms and quantitatively in dollars. “Best” can (and usually does) include economic metrics, but the “best” is ALWAYS about more than money. In most cases, the ‘best” is less about economic volume and more about subjective qualities such as consumer favorability, brand reputation and public relations. 

In the evolving landscape of financial services, Holistic Wealthcare emerges as a financial technology innovation by redefining success metrics and transforming how we measure and achieve client well-being. This disciplined approach prioritizes quality over quantity, urging a shift from purely numerical outcomes to a more balanced, comprehensive view of success. Traditional financial models have long been driven by metrics like revenue growth, return on investment and portfolio size, but holistic wealthcare challenges this paradigm by emphasizing intangible outcomes that support sustainable, multidimensional well-being.

By integrating this philosophy into fintech, astute investment advisors and financial planners can transcend the limitations of groupthink and monetary tunnel vision. They create solutions that focus not only on growing wealth but also on aligning financial strategies with personal values and life goals. This shift may enable clients to achieve not just financial abundance but also meaning, greater satisfaction, and overall life quality—proving that when quality leads, quantity follows naturally. Holistic wealthcare, therefore, is more than an innovation; it is a re-imagination of what true wealth means in a modern, interconnected world.
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-By D. Scott Bloom, CFP®

​The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly. The economic forecasts set forth in this material may not develop as predicted and there can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful.

The right answers to the wrong questions are incorrect. This is the perfect time to point this out
amidst the era of ‘fake news’ and the increasingly unreliable nature of Internet search results.

Try not to let this sound silly or insult your intelligence. Because if you think about a few
examples, you’ll see how this is a more common, yet subtle dilemma happening all around us,
everyday. In the process of trying to solve our doubts we are sometimes increasing them and
this may be happening right under our noses.

True or false: Almost everywhere we look, many people are quick to offer their answers or
solutions (ie: their informed opinion) to the world’s problems, the direction of the economy or the
outcome of next election. To be fair, an ironic example is my opinion of this dilemma is itself.
We see it on cable news shows, hear it on talk radio and read it on social media post replies:
Many are quick to offer their correct answer but few point out the correct or alternate question.
(For instance, like I am doing right here)

Current examples of possibly wrong answers to unvalidated questions:
Answer: Our education system can be fixed by doing Z.
Correct question: Which system exactly and what specific problems?

Answer: The solution to the immigration crisis is X.
Correct question: What is the immigration crisis exactly?

Answer: The best sector in economy right now is Y.
Correct questions: What does “best” sector mean, and to whom?
Is it the fastest growing or the most consistently growing? Or is it the one with the furthest to
grow? Why does defining it matter?

Answer: The best way to invest my 401(k) is X
Correct question: Have I made the maximum contribution yet? Do I consider employer matching
to determine this?
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Pay a little attention this week in your environment and think about the abundance of answers
floating around and the relative scarcity of “correct question alternates”. In other words, look to
see who or what is questioning the questions. How this applies to our daily decisions is at least
as important as it is to our financial decisions.
Pointing this out is something I do to help my clients.
D. Scott Bloom, CFP

Do you consider your investments from multiple perspectives?

Most of the time, when we look at an object or we look at any situation, we tend to look at it from a singular perspective, from our own view. But we were to force ourselves to consciously look at a single object or situation from varying, multiple perspectives, even if they’re ones we don’t want to look at, we see more of the object, we see more of the situation. And when we can see more of the situation, we are in a lot stronger of a position to judge the situation. Pointing this out is something I do to help my clients.

-D. Scott Bloom, CFP

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendation for any individual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate consult your financial advisor prior to investing. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are
unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.

 LPL FINANCIAL Member FINRA / SIPC