SUPPORT CLIENTS IN TIMES OF VOLATILITY

Is your client alarmed by volatility? Are they confused with what is happening in the market? If so, wash their worries away and improve their decision making. This is the time they need the assistance of their financial advisors the most.

Be Proactive

Most clients tend to abandon their well-prepared trading plan and be despaired in times of volatility. Also, investors tend to act quickly whenever they hear or read something on the news. On that note, be proactive and open the communication lines. Evaluate their plans and make changes in their investments, if needed. But you and your client have to agree on the changes you propose. That way you ensure they are still on course to achieve their financial goals.

Enlighten the Client

It seems easy to gauge the current situation in a vacuum. But it is much easier to look at things in a grand-scale and inform the client about the condition. Especially in the wake of a downfall, make clients concentrate on the factors encompassing that downturn. For instance, ask or explain the driving forces behind slumping oil prices or China’s economic downfall, as well as its implications to their portfolios. Assist them in making sound decisions by presenting the bigger picture of the prevailing circumstances.

Keep Emotions in Check

People are emotional in nature. While no one’s stopping anyone from reacting at every turn, this is not an excuse to let emotions prevail in your trades. Urge them to separate emotions from their decisions. As an advisor, you can guide them avoid this habit. Initiate a conversation to help them respond appropriately to volatility. It is pretty useful to set up precautionary measures in order to prepare them for the worse and unexpected scenarios in the market. But then, everything is unexpected in the market.

Volatility is innate in the market. Clients cannot avert it; not even you. However, financial advisors can help them minimize its impacts in their portfolio by being proactive to clients, explaining the real picture of the overall market condition, and keeping emotions at bay.