Innovative Wealth Solutions: How Values Can Help Align a Couple
This week, we're sharing a client story from senior adviser Mark Pearson at Innovative Wealth Solutions — a firm that helps clients find a balance between financial health and living a purposeful life.
The Setup
The story begins with Mark bringing in an existing client who wanted to include her partner in her financial advice experience. She was keen to explore how they could better combine their finances and plan their future together. Let's call the couple Jane and Bob.
Mark kicked off a values session, working through the process of getting both clients to select their top five values cards. When it came time to compare their individual selections and create a combined top five, the conversation got interesting.
When Values Collide
The first joint values card was an easy choice — both Jane and Bob selected "Become Active and Healthy" as their number one. But the second card sparked a genuine disagreement.
Bob wanted "Support and protect those I love" — a financial value. Jane was pushing for "Dedicate more time to those I care about" — a social one. Bob's argument was that working hard and building strong financial foundations was how he showed his love and support for Jane and the family. He was being the financial rock. Jane's argument was that she wanted to spend more quality time with the people who mattered — less time working, more time being present.
This had quietly become a friction point in their relationship. From Jane's perspective, Bob only cared about money and work. From Bob's perspective, Jane wasn't seeing how hard he was working for the family's future. As the discussion unfolded in the session, it became clear that both of them essentially wanted the same thing — they were just expressing it through different lenses and showing their love in different ways.
A Beautiful Outcome
What started as a heated exchange ended in a genuinely meaningful place. The values session gave Jane and Bob a platform to have the kind of conversation they hadn't made space for on their own — digging deeper into what each of them truly cared about, and more importantly, why.
With that foundation in place, Mark moved into the actual financial planning and long-term projections. For the first time, the couple could see what was driving their partner. They got on the same page, developed a mutual respect for each other's perspective, and could approach their shared goals with greater intention.
This matters enormously when it comes to execution. Financial plans often fall apart because one person is quietly sacrificing for the other's goals — and usually the most passionate or dominant voice wins out. But when both partners understand what each is contributing and what each is giving up for their shared vision, they can be more conscious and deliberate in the choices they make. The risk of the plan unravelling drops significantly.
The Best Part
Bob had come into this process as a new client — actively shopping around for an advisor to meet his financial needs. But after his session with Mark, he couldn't imagine how any advisor could build a meaningful plan for him without first helping him arrive at this kind of clarity. The couple signed up and have been progressing on their plan with Mark ever since.
Congratulations to Mark, and thank you for sharing your story with the Lumiant community.
Want to learn more? Mark was interviewed for the Lumiant Live podcast, discussing this case study and how he approaches the review process using Lumiant. Listen to Mark's interview on Lumiant Live.