Welcome to the

Institute for Systemic Financial Professionals™

A future where financial advisors, planners, coaches, educators, and financial therapists are equipped to address the multiple dimensions of money, fostering wellness and systemic insight across generations.

What is Systemic Financial Planning?

Simply put, systemic financial planning is a better way of doing financial planning. It is a holistic approach that brings hope and change. Systemic finanical planning is about recognizing the ‘process’ or the why behind behavior. It is inclusive and collaborative.

When learning to become a Systemic Financial Professional™, you will experience more depth than anything you have experienced before in the psychology of financial planning, client communication, or financial therapy. Why? Because systemic financial planning is about knowing that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts—in other words, we see more when we look at the entire client system including their micro and macro system of influences.

If you are ready for tools, resources, and best of all—a fresh way of looking at people, systemic financial planning is for you.

Founder, Dr. Sonya Lutter, created the Institute for Systemic Financial Professionals™ based on her marriage and family therapy training and wanting to do something to support established financial professionals in their quest for something more. Her mission supports the roots of why she co-established the Financial Therapy Association almost 20 years ago—to help advisors communicate therapeutically without being a therapist.

The Institute for Systemic Financial Professionals™ is a place for financial professionals to gain knowledge in family system’s theory and practice applying the principles with themselves and their clients.

Gain confidence in addressing difficult client issues with the Foundations course. You will learn a process for implementing your skills into practice alongside a small cohort of peers.

Continue your professional journey with the interdisciplinary integration of systems theory, therapeutic communication, and the psychology of financial planning after the course ends.

Dr. Daniel Crosby

Chief Behavioral Officer, Orion

“The Institute for Systemic Financial Professionals™ offers a fresh and much-needed perspective in advisor training. Dr. Sonya Lutter brings a rare blend of academic depth and practical understanding of family systems theory that adds real substance to the work.

As someone who’s spent a career at the intersection of psychology and money, I see this program as an important step forward. It goes well beyond technical skills to address the emotional and relational side of financial decision-making—the side that often matters most.

By integrating systems thinking, therapeutic communication, and holistic planning, this training equips advisors to better serve the real humans behind the spreadsheets.”

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Is this for me?

You have built a successful solo practice and are technically skilled, but feel like something is missing when dealing with clients whose money issues are emotionally or relationally complex.

  • The systemic framework addresses difficult issues like divorce, grief, and major life transitions. You do not have to become a therapist to communicate therapeutically. If you are ready for the next step, we are ready for you.

  • The Systemic Financial Professional training covers 8-modules at the cost of $5,000. You will engage with peers throughout your learning and participate in live conversations with the facilitator, Dr. Sonya Lutter.

    If you are ready to sign up, fill out at application here.

Group of young students, some wearing hijabs, gathered around a table covered with colorful sticky notes, engaged in a collaborative group activity. Two male students are actively participating, with one holding a pink sticky note.

You are engaged with community-based financial literacy work and have a boutique coaching practice focused on money and values. You are wondering why clients are not following your advice.

  • Get ideas for new activites centered around a family system’s perspective. You will learn about readiness for change and be ready to facilitate more robust education and coaching.

  • The Systemic Financial Professional training covers 8-modules at the cost of $5,000. You will engage with peers throughout your learning and participate in live conversations with the facilitator, Dr. Sonya Lutter.

    If you are ready to sign up, fill out at application here.

Group of seven people sitting around a wooden table in a modern, cozy cafe, chatting and smiling, with various beverages on the table, and a kitchen area with open shelves in the background.

You are part a family office that handles complex estate and succession issues. Recently, you have noticed that technical expertise is not sufficient in moving family converations forward.

  • You might have a mental health professional on staff or have a good set of referrals for really difficult situations. For the in-between stuff, learn how to better facilitate converations to reduce conflict and increase empathy with the SFP training.

  • The Systemic Financial Professional training covers 8-modules at the cost of $5,000. You will engage with peers throughout your learning and participate in live conversations with the facilitator, Dr. Sonya Lutter.

    If you are ready to sign up, fill out at application here.

Become a Systemic Financial Professional™

The Institute for Systemic Financial Professionals™ is more than technical training—we develop whole-person thinkers. Technology assists planning, but systems-based thinking drives transformation.

With upgrades to the traditional financial planning process, you can communicate therapeutically without becoming a therapist.

  • The financial planning process (according to the CFP Board) starts with Understanding the Client’s Personal and Financial Circumstances. In addition to the financial data that is a natural part of the planning process, the personal elements are typically limited to basic demographic data. A systemic process brings in that missing element of family system dynamics.

    Words like “holistic” or “comprehensive” could describe the process of understanding where the client is coming from. A systems process goes a bit further to understand the core of the issue. In this section, you will learn how to listen with your eyes to understand what is not said.

  • Step 1.5 is NEW to the traditional financial planning process. A key element of applying a therapeutic approach is knowing that YOU are part of the system. “You can only take the client as far as you have gone,” people say. This is it. Understand your role to better manage client dynamics and outcomes.

    A systemic process goes further than a single relationship to understand the core of the issue. Try to listen with your eyes to understand what is not said.

    Increase self-awareness to know how your emotions and biases show up with your clients. You are part of the system.

  • To identify goals means understanding the “why” or values held by clients. No goal will be followed unless it is authentic to the client. A systemic approach to goals focuses on desirable outcomes that align with the client’s values. Possible outcomes that clients may identify include better financial wellness, living more authentically, and better communication with family/"the system" about money.

  • Pay attention to the emotional reactions with your conversations with clients and be ready to pause if the clients’ mentality prevents them from hearing what you are saying. In this step, you can manage emotional reactions through careful tools and discussion prompts.

  • Steps 4-6 of the financial planning process are largely rooted in the financial calculations. Since a Systemic Financial Professional™ sees more of what is going on with clients’ lives. As a result of this expanded perspective, we will evaluate limits to your professional boundaries and develop a solid referral system to consider as you develop, present, and implement the financial plan.

  • Financial planning is an ongoing process and monitoring client systems are just as dynamic. When reviewing progress toward goals, take process notes to capture what is not being said and note changes to the client system.  

Learn More

Jodi Kaus, JD, CTFA

Director of Program Implementation, Peer PowerED Financial Wellness™

“As a financial planner and trainer of future financial professionals, I have witnessed the difference in satisfaction and follow-through by clients when their advisor considers them holistically and understands how their financial wellness impacts, and is impacted by, other areas of their wellness. These tools give advisors the confidence to help clients open up and share their most valuable insights leading to optimal success for all parties.”

Jared Anderson, Ph.D., LCMFT

“This training challenges financial professionals to see themselves as part of the system, not separate from it, and that shift changes everything. By developing greater self-awareness and learning how to engage with clients more thoughtfully, planners become better equipped to support not just financial goals, but the people behind them.”

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