Customer Reviews

Financial DNA: Discovering Your Unique Financial Personality for a Quality Life

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There are a couple of glowing 5/5 reviews for Financial DNA here already, but I'm not sure they accurately represent what the book is about.

Financial DNA is a psychological profiling service offered by the author of this book's company. This book is a written infomercial for the Financial DNA service.

It doesn't describe how the service works, the psychology on which it is based is a commercial secret and while some of the questions the tests ask are listed, it doesn't provide any kind of marking key. The author keeps all details of how the service was developed or how it works a secret. If you log in to their website, enter your credit card details and do the tests, you'll get a series of charts and scores but won't know too much about how these were derived as the system is basically a psychological black box.

I can't see how the book itself warrants a 5/5 rating, nor how the reviews already published relate to the book. They are obviously satisfied customers of the Financial DNA service, which for all I know is just as fantastic as they say it is, but that's not the product on this Amazon page. I'm reviewing a book today, not the service the author is trying to flog. I'm somewhat surprised that Wiley agreed to publish it, books of this genre are normally self-published.

I was pretty bored by the typical books on investing and financial planning. How many times can you read about IRA's or Index funds? But this book really made me think about how my personality affects the way I work with money and the decisions I make. In fact, it showed me why the typical money book is boring for me, but interesting to someone else.

As someone currently using Financial DNA, both for myself and my financial advisory clients, I believe this book presents a superb system for living a quality life based on understanding your own unique natural behaviors.

The modular design used in the book lends itself well to a customized approach for each person. Although it can be used by an individual alone, it is best used while working with a financial advisor trained in the system.

As more and more the financial services industry focuses on the advisor "knowing the client", I expect cutting-edge advisory firms will use Financial DNA. The Chief Compliance Officers at broker/dealers would be wise to read this book, and consider how it could help their advisors not only "know their clients", but help their clients live a quality life.

I think within the next five years, Hugh's Financial DNA will become the index, the measuring stick, by which all financial life planning systems will be compared to. Yes, the book is called Financial DNA, but the book puts money where it ought to be...after understanding our natural behavior, then we can talk about money. Hats off to Hugh Massie for a seminal contribution to our individual lives!

Hugh Massie's Financial DNA book expanded the way I see my practice today. He helped me to understand that the most important aspect of the personal finance advisory business is discovering the unique financial personality of each customer, not the technical side of products or money management.

With his broad experience as a wealth mentor, Hugh envisioned a new way of servicing clients. He developed a user friendly framework based on scientific methods of behavioral profiling in order to align personal needs with financial objectives.

By citing real life examples, he shows how his Financial DNA Discovery Process and Tools can be used in helping advisors to better understand and communicate with clients and tailor a financial strategy suited to their financial personality, allowing them to experience a better quality of life.

I have started introducing the "knowing people before the numbers" concept and realized that my relationship with clients, which had already gone through the Discovery Process, improved tremendously.

I want to congratulate Hugh and his team for the visionary work that they are doing!

Knowledge is power. Knowledge of ourself and others has power to transform lives. Hugh's book and system provide a path to acquire this transformational power. Well done, Hugh.