If you’ve ever had a referral source ask whether you handle Time Is Our Greatest Resource and felt your answer was technically true but unsatisfying, you’re in the right place. The path from ‘I can do it’ to ‘I’m the person to call’ is more concrete than it looks.
Written for divorce financial coaches thinking about how to position around Time Is Our Greatest Resource for the next three to five years, not the next quarter.
The economics of Time Is Our Greatest Resource engagements for divorce financial coaches usually favor flat-fee or tiered-fee structures over hourly billing. The work is well-defined enough to scope cleanly, and clients usually prefer predictable costs. Coaches who develop reliable scoping templates can produce consistent margins where hourly-billed coaches absorb variable amounts of scope creep.
The most common opening question
Clients usually have an implicit theory of what Time Is Our Greatest Resource can do for them — sometimes wildly optimistic, sometimes pessimistic. The early conversation should surface that theory and address it. A client who thinks the engagement will solve a problem the analytical framework can’t actually solve will be disappointed regardless of the technical quality of the work.
Many clients come to Time Is Our Greatest Resource matters expecting binary answers (yes or no, this number or that number). The reality is usually ranges, probability-weighted scenarios, and contingent recommendations. Helping the client adjust to that reality at intake — rather than at the deliverable — produces a better engagement.
What experienced colleagues say new practitioners miss
Many divorce financial coaches undervalue their work in Time Is Our Greatest Resource matters because they’re comparing their hours to their general practice rather than to other specialists in the area. The right comparison is to others doing the same work, not to your past general practice. Practitioners who recalibrate their pricing against the right peer group price their work appropriately.
Practitioners often fail to recognize when a Time Is Our Greatest Resource matter has crossed from analytical work into advocacy or therapy. The work has clean boundaries — analytical work is appropriate; advocacy or therapy beyond your role is not. Recognizing the boundary and referring out when appropriate is one of the markers of senior practice. For deeper reference, see ABA Family Law Section resources.
How Time Is Our Greatest Resource has changed in recent years
Time Is Our Greatest Resource has shifted in three meaningful ways over the past five to seven years. First, the volume of data available in most matters has grown dramatically — bank, brokerage, retirement, and credit records are routinely available in electronic form, which both enables deeper analysis and creates more work to organize. Second, the regulatory and tax environment has shifted (most notably the 2019 federal alimony tax change for divorces). Third, the client population has become more sophisticated; clients increasingly come to Time Is Our Greatest Resource matters having done meaningful online research.
Professional standards in Time Is Our Greatest Resource have been evolving across the major credentialing organizations. The credentials themselves matter less than they used to (because client research finds them) but the underlying curricula have improved. Practitioners going through current credential programs emerge with better-built frameworks than those who credentialed a decade ago.
The decision before the decision
Considering Time Is Our Greatest Resource as a focus area is a five-year decision, not a one-year decision. Practitioners who commit to a year and then evaluate usually conclude the area isn’t producing returns — because year one almost never does. The decision is really about whether you’re willing to invest the next five years.
If the answer is ‘yes, I want to commit to Time Is Our Greatest Resource as a focus area,’ the first six months should be heavy on relationship-building, infrastructure investment, and one or two carefully-handled cases. Build the engagement-letter template. Attend the family-law section meeting. Read the foundational texts. The case flow follows the foundation, not the other way around.
The honest summary of Time Is Our Greatest Resource for divorce financial coaches: it rewards depth, it punishes shortcuts, and it compounds across years for practitioners willing to invest in the long arc.
How VennBoard fits in
VennBoard helps divorce financial coaches build the operational backbone Time Is Our Greatest Resource engagements require — engagement letters that handle the scoping conversation in writing, case files that stay organized across long matters, communication tools that keep the broader case team coordinated, and the infrastructure that lets the practitioner focus on the analytical work rather than the administrative drag.
Learn more about how VennBoard fits into a cdfa practice focused on Time Is Our Greatest Resource at VennBoard.com.
Further reading
ABA Family Law Section resources
IRS Publication 504 (Divorced or Separated Individuals)