/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
It wasn’t so long ago that clients perceived financial plans as an extension of the prospecting process to entice them to open an account and hand over their money. Many financial advisors feigned the role as a financial planner to create the perception of objectivity with the recommendations they would make. Clients received a faux leather-bound financial plan that just took up shelf space, never to be revisited by them or their advisor.
Fast forward to today, and we see an increasing number of financial advisors who are committed to a more holistic approach to working with clients, making the financial plan a critical cornerstone of their relationships. That, of course, is in response to what more and more clients are looking for in their advisor relationships—a plan that addresses the entirety of their financial life to guide them in life-critical decisions.
Why is it then that the value of a well-conceived financial plan seems to wane among clients who, further into the advisory relationship, begin to question their advisor’s advice or express disenchantment because their investments are underperforming their neighbor’s or colleagues’ portfolio? What do advisors need to do to get their clients to refocus on what’s really important?
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Keep Your Clients Focused on What’s Knowable and Important
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
The media has always run rampant with scary headlines. That’s how they increase readership or website traffic. However, in this period of increased market volatility, economic uncertainty, geopolitical upheaval, mixed COVID signals, and deepening political divisions, the headlines can be incredibly overwhelming or, at the very least, extremely distracting.
Trying to consume all the news coming at us 24/7 is like trying to drink from a firehose. It’s critical to understand that the barrage of bad news and hype around market events can trigger emotional reactions that often lead to making costly decisions around their finances.
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Want Your Clients to Take Their Financial Plan Seriously? Keep It Front and Center in Your Relationship
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
It wasn’t so long ago that clients perceived financial plans as an extension of the prospecting process to entice them to open an account and hand over their money. Many financial advisors feigned the role as a financial planner to create the perception of objectivity with the recommendations they would make. Clients received a faux leather-bound financial plan that just took up shelf space, never to be revisited by them or their advisor.
Fast forward to today, and we see an increasing number of financial advisors who are committed to a more holistic approach to working with clients, making the financial plan a critical cornerstone of their relationships. That, of course, is in response to what more and more clients are looking for in their advisor relationships—a plan that addresses the entirety of their financial life to guide them in life-critical decisions.
Why is it then that the value of a well-conceived financial plan seems to wane among clients who, further into the advisory relationship, begin to question their advisor’s advice or express disenchantment because their investments are underperforming their neighbor’s or colleagues’ portfolio? What do advisors need to do to get their clients to refocus on what’s really important?
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Educate Clients about Market Volatility so They Can Confidently Stick to the Plan
/ by Diana Marinova / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments
Happy New Year from all of us at Don Connelly & Associates! Hopefully everyone will enjoy good health during the new year, achieving great success both personally and professionally.
As promised, this week we’re posting the second part of the recap blog post, covering two more popular topics our community of Advisors was most interested in during 2020 – market volatility and how to communicate with prospects and clients about it. We’ll also share a few stories and analogies you can use to convince clients to stick to the plan, no matter the market conditions.
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How to Assure Clients That Volatility Is Part of the Strategy
/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom / 0 comments
Unquestionably, the stock market has experienced extreme volatility in the last couple of years, elevating the anxiety levels of investors who grew complacent throughout a historic 11-year bull market. Just as they did throughout the wild gyrations of the 2008-2011 market, investors have grown intolerant of the recent, wild stock market gyrations, resulting in many choosing to make wholesale changes to their portfolio, switch financial advisors, or flee the market entirely.
But, what investors may not understand is that switching between asset classes to avoid volatility can actually have the opposite effect. It is incumbent upon financial advisors to help their clients understand that, with a sound investment strategy and a long-term perspective, volatility can actually be good for a stock portfolio because it has always been the primary force that drives market gains over time.
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Making Sure You Make the Most of Market Uncertainty – What Advisors Read the Most on the Blog
/ by Diana Marinova / Connelly Corner, Investing Wisdom / 0 comments
As you very well remember, we had a quick and severe market downturn in March and April 2020, followed by the greatest stock market rally in the history of the stock markets. Naturally, clients are panicked because of the market uncertainty. Regardless of where the DJIA closes today, we know for a fact that there will be another bear market – we just don’t know when.
To help you prepare yourself and your clients for what inevitably lies ahead, we bring you the top 10 most-read posts on the topic of market volatility, falling markets and growing your business in a post-pandemic world.
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Bear Market: What You Do Will Make or Break Your Financial Advisor Career
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Every advisor gets just a few great career-building opportunities: Times when they can really establish themselves as experts, build long-term credibility, and differentiate themselves from the competition – most of whom are hiding from their clients because they don’t know how to guide them through the bear market.
What do the real pros do when things are scariest? When your clients are calling you scared witless, and they want to go to cash?
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Coronavirus: An Opportunity for Financial Advisors to Strengthen Client Relationships
/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom, Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
As I write this after the market close on March 9th, 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1,800 points on the day, for a loss of 7.8%. The S&P 500 is down by 7.6% – the worst single day on for U.S. equities since the 2008 crisis.
This Monday loss follows some significant volatility late last week that already had a lot of investors on edge.
No doubt, most of you advisors out there are receiving some nervous calls and emails from your clients, wondering what’s going on.
This is where great advisors can earn their money. As a matter of fact, you as financial advisors may well not have as great an opportunity to add value for your clients for a very long time as you do today.
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7 Things Many Financial Advisors Don’t Do, and Fail as a Result
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Much of the failure in this industry comes down to non-observance of the basics. Too many advisors fail not only to develop their soft skills but lack the necessary business acumen to remain viable. If you want to succeed as a financial advisor, learn from their mistakes and make sure you ‘do’ what they are ‘not doing’.
Here are some things that many advisors are not doing – but should be.
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5 More Questions Prospects May Ask You before Deciding to Hire You as Their Financial Advisor
/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments
Choosing a financial advisor is a big decision for potential clients, especially if they’re new to the world of investing. Not only will they be looking for someone suitably qualified, they’ll be searching for someone who shares their goals and comes across as caring and authentic.
To try and deduce whether you’re the right fit for them, they’ll undoubtedly have questions. In this follow up to a previous post, let’s look at 5 more questions you may get asked in that first meeting.
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The First Client Meeting: Are You Making Any of These 10 Common Mistakes?
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments
It’s all too easy to slip up in the first meeting and lose any opportunity to open the account – and this is especially true for new advisors.
In this post we’ll help you identify mistakes you could, without realizing it, be making. Take an honest appraisal – do you recognize yourself doing any of the following? If so, take action to fix these mistakes.
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