Title: Aloha Financial Advising: Doing Good To Do Better For Your Clients and Yourself
Author: Stephen Kagawa
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
ISBN: 978-1544504452
Pages: 222
Genre: Wealth Management / Business Mentoring & Coaching
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina

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Often in the world of business, success is defined differently for different people. However, for one to truly be successful, they must focus not on how best to serve themselves, but to serve others. As USA Astronaut Jonny Kim once said, “Success to me means serving a calling higher than yourself that improves the lives of everyone and is done completely in the name of service.”

In author Stephen Kagawa’s Aloha Financial Advising: Doing Good To Do Better For Your Clients and Yourself, the author tackles the important task of separating the need to push products on clients and instead get back to serving the needs of the client, and thus become a better financial advisor in the process. The new set of priorities the author lays out in this book will not only help newcomers to the field but veteran advisors as well, and help get away from the pressures which come with selling products, and instead build better relationships with clients.

This is a detailed and driven book. The author does an excellent job of capturing the tools and lessons needed to help those in the financial advisor field to better connect with their clients than focus on selling products. From identifying the ways in which wealth management misses the mark entirely for advisors to building a system that rewards doing good and identifying what you need as an advisor in order to build trust with clients, the author lays out a clear vision for how advising can become a much more personable and rewarding experience for those in the field. What really stuck out to me was how the author incorporated the words and culture of the Hawaiian people into the work the author is doing, showcasing how building trust and using things like Ohana, meaning family and treating others as family, and Pono, meaning to do the right thing, showcase a perfect state of mind in which financial advisors can go into business with.

This is the perfect read for those who enjoy financial books, more specifically books which lay out lessons and guides on how to be a financial advisor and work for the client or customer rather than the products you are trained to sell. The book perfectly allows those in the field to break free of the habits which the field has been pushing advisors to do for so long now, and instead helps to build a true relationship with clients that not only helps strengthen the advisor/client relationship but allows both parties to gain what they are seeking from such a relationship.

A memorable, educational and thought-provoking read, author Stephen Kagawa’s Aloha Financial Advising is a must-read book for those in the financial advisor field. Showcasing a fantastic and personal approach to finances and how building a sense of family and trust with a client can be beneficial both morally and financially to them both, this book serves as both a guide and a gripping non-fiction read.