I’ve always been fascinated by fairytales. Not the Disney spoonful-of-sugar kind, but the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen originals.

Something about the combination of the fantastical and mystical, along with the dark, gothic backdrop, always just felt right. These stories aren’t about happy-ever-after or meeting a prince. They’re often about introspection, revelation, and exploration. The human psyche laid absolutely bare.

When my daughters were younger, we went down the whole happy-go-lucky Disney route, partly because I think I felt I ought to. But as they got a little older, we would read my “proper” fairytales together. And to my endless delight, they became completely immersed in them. During lockdown, my dad and youngest daughter would read stories together over Zoom, and she went through my entire Hans Andersen and Brothers Grimm collections.

We read the original Mary Poppins books together, and for any Saving Mr. Banks fans, I was with the author, P.L. Travers – Disney wrecked the books beyond repair. The “real” Mary Poppins was snarling, rude, unpleasant, and difficult, yet brought magic and mystery into the lives of the little Banks children.

When Frozen came out, I dutifully watched it with my girls, then insisted we read the original, much darker (much better), The Snow Queen. Set against a backdrop of ice and snow, little Gerda embarks on an epic journey to rescue her friend Kay, who the Snow Queen has cursed. My children mainly thought it was funny that the boy was called Kay, the same name as mine.

To me, the fairy-dust fairytales are spinning a yarn that’s not doing us, or our kids, any good. During my university studies, I read a brilliant book, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, in which she subverted many of the most popular fairy stories (for example, instead of the Beast becoming a man, Beauty becomes a beast).

Hans Andersen’s The Little Mermaid doesn’t magically find her voice and marry the prince. She remains mute, unable to communicate with him, and has to watch him marry someone else. At the end, she sacrifices herself rather than kill the prince. It’s a poignant, beautiful, and lyrical story that didn’t need a bucket of saccharine poured on it to sanitise it for kids.

There are so many of these stories. Peter Pan is sold to us as the boyish figure who never grew up, but there’s something incredibly sinister and faintly terrifying about the character. In the original Cinderella, the stepsisters chop off their toes to try to fit the glass slipper, and get their eyes pecked out by a bird at Cinderella’s wedding. A brilliant comeuppance, in my opinion.

Fairytales can teach financial planners some key lessons to pass on to clients

Rumpelstiltskin could spin straw into gold. Hansel and Gretel found a house made entirely out of sweets. Jack planted some magic beans and they grew into a beanstalk overnight.

But as financial planners and advisers, you’re not there to spin a yarn to your clients. Gold doesn’t just manifest. A house made of sweets is, sadly, too good to be true. And investments don’t just grow overnight.

It’s your job to talk to your clients about reality. What they’ve experienced so far, what their hopes and aspirations are, and how they’d like to achieve these.

But it’s also your job to help make their dreams come true. Talking about reality doesn’t mean being cold and stark. You’re still there to add the magic, but along with a healthy dose of great advice and professional know-how. Here are five ways you could use fairytales to inform your clients.

1. Understand what you’re signing up to

The Little Mermaid sold her voice to the Sea Witch in exchange for legs, hoping to enchant the prince. But he marries another woman, and the Little Mermaid is cursed to either kill the prince, or die herself.

Talk to your clients about understanding the value of any exchange, reading the small print, knowing what they’re committing to, and being sure that the outcome won’t be detrimental.

2. Scammers can be clever

In the Emperor’s New Clothes, the vain Emperor pays vast amounts of money to “weavers”, who steal the money and the lavish materials, dressing him in “clothes” that they claim are invisible to anyone stupid. Nobody wants to admit to being unable to see the clothes, leaving the Emperor to parade naked, until a small boy points out that, in fact, there are no “new clothes”.

The moral of this story for your clients is that scammers can be very clever. If something doesn’t quite seem right to them, it probably isn’t, and they should always check before handing over money.

3. Retirement planning is important

Little Red Riding Hood is visiting her grandma who lives in the woods, when a wolf eats her grandma and takes her place, before eating Red Riding Hood.

Explain to your clients the value of long-term retirement planning, which could have seen grandma living somewhere far more suitable than in isolation in the middle of the woods.

4. Do your homework before you invest in property

The Three Little Pigs build two ineffectual houses out of straw and sticks, and only the house of bricks withstands the wolf.

Tell your clients that property investment needs careful planning and advice. It’s not to be rushed into, simply as a “that’ll do” solution.

5. Investments rarely grow overnight

Jack sells his cow for some magic beans, which grow into a beanstalk overnight, and he eventually captures the goose that lays the golden eggs.

It’s a lovely idea, but your clients need to know that selling their only asset for magic beans from a man at the market won’t result in overnight success and a golden goose. This is strictly for fairytales.

I’ll leave you with a quote widely attributed to Albert Einstein: “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales.”

Opening up a whole new world of possibilities for your clients

At Yardstick, we want to help you help your clients. Making their dreams come true, fulfilling their wishes, and opening up new worlds and new possibilities.

We can’t offer a magic wand or fairy dust. But, we can offer marketing services that get to the heart of how, as their financial planner, you can help them find their own version of happily ever after.

Not by making endless false promises, sugarcoating the truth, or hiding behind smoke and mirrors. Rather, by exploring and explaining, giving honest guidance, and helping them find their own way forward. Showing them that, just like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, “You’ve always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself”.

Talk to us today about how we can add some magic to your marketing. Email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300 to speak to one of our team.