PRIVACY AND BOUNDARIES
WHAT WE DON'T
ASK YOU FOR.
A life assessment could reasonably ask for a great deal of sensitive material. This one deliberately does not, and it is worth being specific about where the lines are.
Never requested
- Passwords or logins. Not for anything, at any stage.
- Full bank or brokerage account numbers.
- Identification documents. No passport, licence, Social Security number or birth certificate.
- Detailed medical records.
Onboarding for a coaching relationship has no legitimate need for any of it. Collecting sensitive material you do not need creates a liability for the client and a duty of care for the coach that neither of them signed up for.
Knowing where things are is not the same as holding them
Continuity planning genuinely matters — the twelfth assessment area asks whether the right people would know what to do if you were unavailable, and for most owners the answer is no.
But that question is answered by knowing where essential records live and who would need access. It does not require anyone to collect the records themselves.
So the household and continuity worksheets are marked to remain in your hands. They are not submitted unless there is a specific agreed reason, and the default is that there is not one.
If this was useful, Ben Lovro's main site goes deeper.
Permissions are separate, not bundled
Agreeing to work together is not agreement to anything else. These are asked for individually and any of them can be declined without affecting the work:
| Permission | Default |
|---|---|
| Recording sessions | Not assumed |
| Using your name, story or results publicly | Not assumed |
| Using AI tools on your material | Not assumed |
| Third-party access — spouse, partner, team member | Not assumed |
The publicity one matters more than it looks. A great deal of coaching marketing runs on client stories collected under enthusiasm and used indefinitely. Nobody's story here gets used without a specific yes.
Where a professional takes over
Several assessment areas touch subjects that a coach is not licensed or qualified to handle. Those areas are written to find the gap and point at the right seat — not to fill it.
- Financial planning and investment advice — a licensed adviser.
- Tax — your CPA.
- Legal, estate and continuity documents — your attorney.
- Medical and mental health — your physician or a licensed clinician.
Ben is not a licensed financial adviser, attorney, CPA or clinician, and coaching is not a substitute for any of them. A process that blurred that line would be more impressive to sell and considerably worse for you.
Relationships are relationships
One deliberate omission worth naming. Some assessment frameworks build a contact database ranked by influence, net worth or usefulness.
This one does not. The relational material asks about useful introductions, promises kept, thoughtful follow-up and contribution — what you are giving and whether you are dependable — rather than scoring people by what they can do for you.
Same reasoning behind dropping the status-driven lifestyle inventories that these packages often carry. Your preferences and support systems matter to the extent they fit your actual life. Nothing here is a checklist for looking successful.
Frequently asked
Questions people actually ask
Why not collect financial documents?
Because the coaching work does not need them. It needs to know whether you can see your own position and who is helping you manage it. Detail beyond that belongs with your CPA and adviser.
Can I share more if I want to?
Yes, by choice and for a specific reason. The point is that it is never the default and never a condition of participating.
Will my story be used in marketing?
Not without a specific, separate yes. Participation is not consent to publicity.
Is AI used on my material?
Only with permission, asked separately. Where it is used it is bounded and reviewed by a person — the same standard applied to every other part of the operations work.
What if a session surfaces something clinical?
It gets named, and you get pointed toward appropriate care. Continuing to coach through something that needs a clinician would be the wrong call.
Who sees my assessment?
You, and whoever you explicitly choose to include. It is not shared, compared or benchmarked.
Make your next move
A year from now, what will you be glad you started today?
You don't need another promise that everything will be easy. You need something useful to learn — and a next step you're willing to take.