Updated: March 25, 2026
It was an honor to interview George Kinder, and learn about his 35-year journey to transform financial planning from a numbers-driven discipline into one that begins with a client’s life, and about where that journey has ultimately led him. As the founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, he has trained thousands of advisors worldwide in a methodology that puts human values, not portfolios, at the center of every financial plan. But George has never seen that mission as confined to finance alone, and our conversation reflects that. We talk about his career, the movement he built, and his most recent and perhaps most expansive initiative: Fiduciary In All Things (FIAT) — a vision in which every institution that touches a human life is held to the same fiduciary standard he has spent decades championing in financial services.
My introduction to George Kinder came in stages, which I think is how it happens for most people in this industry. I first became familiar with the Kinder Institute of Life Planning about 15 years ago, when Fee-Only Network began showcasing the RLP® (Registered Life Planner®) designation on advisor profiles. I understood what the Institute stood for – advancing the practice of whole life financial planning, putting the client’s life at the center of their financial plan – before I fully appreciated the reach and influence of the person who founded it.
The more I learned about George’s work, the more I came to appreciate that his advocacy runs in two directions simultaneously: toward financial advisors, thousands of whom he has trained globally in life planning methodology, and toward the investors they serve, whose lives he has spent decades fighting to place at the center of the planning process. That dual commitment is rare, and it matters.
It was actually Dave Bromelkamp, of AdvisorSmart, who made the personal introduction between George and me, and it was only then that I began to grasp the full weight of what George has built over the past 30-plus years. His influence on this industry, on how advisors think about their clients, and on how consumers understand what financial planning can actually be runs deeper than any award or credential can fully capture. Getting to know George personally has only deepened my respect for what he has devoted his career to.
“The average investor may not be familiar with George Kinder, but his deep purpose and the philosophies he has instilled in thousands of advisors have created a ripple effect felt far beyond the financial planning profession.”
Allan Slider, Founder, Fee-Only Network
A Harvard graduate and CPA, earning the Bronze Medal in Massachusetts on the National Uniform CPA exam in 1975, George began his career in tax practice in Cambridge, MA before spending 30 years as a practicing financial planner and tax adviser. In 1994, he co-founded The Nazrudin Project, an influential think tank of national financial advisers dedicated to exploring the human and spiritual dimensions of money and personal finance. His transition from practitioner to full-time advocate and educator gave rise to one of the most respected institutions in the financial planning world: the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, established in 2003.
Financial Life Planning is a client-centered methodology that begins the life a client most wants to live – not with a portfolio or tax analysis. Practitioners trained by the Kinder Institute use structured conversation and deep listening to surface what clients truly value — then build financial strategies in service of those goals. It is widely credited with shifting the professional conversation from “what do you have?” to “what do you want your life to be?”
George is the author of three foundational works in financial life planning: The Seven Stages of Money Maturity (1999), Lighting the Torch (2006), and Life Planning for You (2014) — books considered essential reading for both professionals and consumers who want to understand money’s deeper relationship to a well-lived life. His thought leadership extends beyond finance into mindfulness, poetry, and photography, reflecting a philosophy that the best financial planning is inseparable from a broader understanding of what it means to thrive.
Among his many honors, George received the Financial Planning Association’s first Heart of Financial Planning Award in 2006, the Transparency Task Force’s Transparency Trophy in 2017, and was named one of the “20 People Who Shaped the Financial Planning Industry” by InvestmentNews in 2019. His expertise has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Time Magazine, and the Financial Times, among many others.
George’s most recent initiative, Fiduciary In All Things (FIAT), extends the fiduciary principle well beyond financial services. It envisions a world where every institution — government, business, education, medicine — acts as a fiduciary to the people it serves, placing truth, humanity, democracy, and the health of the planet ahead of profit or power. It is a vision entirely consistent with the work George has done for three decades — the conviction that the same care a fiduciary financial advisor owes a client is, at its core, the same care every institution owes every human being it touches.
The full interview is above. Below you’ll find a complete list of George’s books, initiatives, and resources for anyone who wants to go deeper into his work.
Allan Slider is the Founder of FeeOnlyNetwork.com, a one-of-a-kind digital platform that elevates the visibility of fee-only financial advisors, individually and collectively. Fee-Only advisors are ONLY compensated by the client and NEVER make commission by selling financial products, or receiving kickbacks from brokerage firms. Allan is a consumer & investor advocate and a 20+ year veteran of online marketing for financial advisors.
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