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The time has come to challenge ourselves and our profession. Are we fulfilling our implied promise to improve the quality of our clients’ lives, or are we just getting better at running the business of financial planning, in good times and in bad? This question is more relevant today that it has ever been. At this unprecedented moment in history, are we just doing things differently, dusting off our “disaster” tools from 2008 and using them with clients?
As I look through the headlines of articles in this time of pandemic, I see plenty of commentary on how it is affecting the markets and the businesses of advisors. There is also mention of fear, stress and uncertainty.
But visibly absent is a plan to address the emotions that are overwhelming our clients. Indeed, doing so is an implied mandate of our profession.
What is the implied promise?
Every time a client signs on or renews with a financial planner, that advisor has made promise. This promise goes beyond fiduciary commitments, technology, behavioral finance, life planning, and even financial planning in the time of a pandemic. The promise says:
I am your go-to for whatever happens in your life. When life goes as planned, I am here to keep you on track. When life pivots you in a new direction, welcomed or regrettable, I am here for you to lead you and keep you safe. When the pieces of your life fall apart, I can help you put it all back together. When the world rapidly changes in ways you could never imagine, I. Am. Here.
Think about the tools you use regularly with your clients and the conversations are you having these days. What are they about? Is the topic how they are coping as human beings, or is it their money? Who – or what – are we serving? Do you just use a different set of tools than you did a month ago?
Here are three ways our profession can fulfill the promise of being there for their clients.
1. Make sure your work includes both sides of money
Financial planners should be equally skilled and practiced in the technical and the personal sides of money. The past two decades have seen increasing recognition of the importance and complexity of the personal side. But right about now, my guess is that many advisors are feeling, for the first time, how woefully inadequate their personal-side training is. The personal side is much easier to work in – work with – when things are going well, and when there is a status quo.
When it became clear – no matter which news network you watch – what was occurring, what is occurring in our world, the ability of a financial advisor to handle the human on the other side of the phone or on the Skype screen became more important than anything else.
To be clear, personal-side, “soft” skills are not about being a nice, caring person. They are the crucial skills of deep listening and skillfully responding that are at the heart of keeping clients safe and protected as they move into the unknown.
2. Get educated about transitions
I frequently spend time looking at the messages on the websites of financial planners. Many mention transitions and/or individual life events such as divorce, retirement, the loss of a spouse, or the sale of a business.
Everyone talks about transition, but as a profession we haven’t embraced a model for the work. There is no basic training on transitions like there is in other fields such as education, counseling and nursing. But it’s sorely needed in financial planning and here’s why: the personal side that I mentioned in point one above. Do you know what frequently happens with that when clients are anticipating or in the middle of a major life transition?
- Communication habits and patterns shift;
- Cognition and decision-making are affected;
- Emotions dramatically change; and
- Expectations of self and others are particularly heightened.
Does any of that sound familiar?
This pandemic that is our shared experience is a transition. Transitions have four stages: anticipation, ending, passage, and new normal, and it takes years to complete a transition. Do you know where we are? Ending. We have begun a transition there’s no going back from; we don’t know how bad it is going to get or how long it will take exactly; and we have no idea what life will look like when we look back on it, referring to it in the past tense.
You might have a playbook for when things go south, but do you know what to do or how to be with your clients when their entire world has been turned upside down?
If we don’t have a model for working with the inner experience of a client as they process their morphing identity, responsibilities and possibilities, how can we say we are fulfilling our implied promise?
3. Learn how to work with stress
One of those internal experiences is stress – yours as well as your client’s.
Anxiety, uncertainty, fear, and debilitating stress have characterized this moment for many. We are all grieving what was and in a state of anticipatory grief for what we know is likely coming. There is some level of trauma inside us all.
Clients need a planner who understands this, and who has the ability to listen deeply to their experience, normalize it, and protect them from acting in ways that don’t serve them. This human-side work is called for frequently during times of transition, particularly if all the client is able to see is that life is falling apart. And when transitions overlap – when the loss of a parent or partner or marriage comes on the heels of a pandemic, for instance, money might be the least of a client’s problems.
Why don’t we, as a profession, have a process for the human experience of moments like these?
This moment in time is a challenge to our profession
We have no choice. Right now, we need to show up, over and over again, to witness the grief, confusion, and trauma of clients. And we need to do that as humans who are willing and able to deal with the full range of our clients’ experiences to fulfill the promise we have made.
We aren’t therapists and don’t need to be. We should guide clients because we ourselves have done the inner personal work necessary to meet whatever shows up in front of us or on the phone.
The evolution of our profession will come only when we have decided as individuals that it’s time to evolve – or when something occurs in our world that nudges us to evolve.
Consider yourself nudged. This might not be the most convenient time to delve into your own humanity and learn how to share it with others, but it’s no longer an option.
Susan Bradley, CFP®, CeFT®, is the founder of the Sudden Money® Institute (SMI), a think tank that created the Certified Financial Transitionist® designation (and the Financial Transitionist® Institute, which now delivers the CeFT® training). For 16 years, Susan has been training financial advisors in the unique processes and tools SMI created for managing the human dynamics of financial change.
Read more articles by Susan Bradley
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
