The best way to ease client concerns is to conduct a review meeting with them to go over all of their current positions and retirement forecasts. Tools such as Retire Up, eMoney, MoneyGuidePro, etc. allow you to forecast a client's retirement with a variety of inputs and assumptions. If we update account values after the recent decline and the client is still showing a successful retirement then the client concerns are almost instantly erased.
Just telling your clients that things will bounce back without providing any specific analysis will not ease their concerns. Clients love to know they are still on track to meet their goals despite the recent poor performance.
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Zachary Bachner, investment advisor representative at Summit Financial Consulting in Sterling Heights, Michigan
I think the best way is to remind them that while they are still saving each and every paycheck, they are buying on sale in a down market. People get too attached to their total balance that they noticed at the top and don’t think about the contributions that are buying at lower prices. Those make a difference!
I would also remind clients the markets tend to overcome and tend to go up over the long run. The noise we are experiencing now is part of the game, but the long-term perspective has played out over the history of the markets well. One of two things is going to happen: The market is going to keep doing what it has always done (go up and down, but more up than down) or it will go to zero. If it goes to zero, you won’t care what your portfolio balance is because it’s the end of our current society as we know it and you’ll be more concerned about finding food and self-preservation.
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Jarrod Sandra, CFP, CPFA, owner, Chisholm Wealth Management in Crowley, Texas
The best way to ease client concerns is to conduct a review meeting with them to go over all of their current positions and retirement forecasts. Tools such as Retire Up, eMoney, MoneyGuidePro, etc. allow you to forecast a client's retirement with a variety of inputs and assumptions. If we update account values after the recent decline and the client is still showing a successful retirement then the client concerns are almost instantly erased.
Just telling your clients that things will bounce back without providing any specific analysis will not ease their concerns. Clients love to know they are still on track to meet their goals despite the recent poor performance.
—
Zachary Bachner, investment advisor representative at Summit Financial Consulting in Sterling Heights, Michigan