My client’s adult son has never made much of himself, and as a result never made much money. How should I approach this with my client?

What communication practices are best during these times?

Should I email an announcement about my mom’s passing to my clients?

In some ways the crisis presents an opportunity to rethink our business and get rid of a long-standing problem.

I know I need to be reaching out and contacting clients. But I feel like a sleazy salesperson calling them when I’m not sure whether, or how, the current situation is affecting them.

Are there things I could do for my mental and physical health while home-bound?

I have received several questions about advisors unable to behave appropriately during this stressful time.

I am not usually an indecisive person, but everything about this current environment puts me on edge and I don’t trust my own judgments.

I know this isolation is necessary, but the fabric of our firm is coming apart at the seams. Is it possible to collaborate effectively when everyone is remote?

The best crisis communication is to hit the issue head-on and acknowledge the outcomes. Here are five tips for managing communication.

I want to talk to clients and ease their concerns during this market volatility. I don’t want to be fielding internal staff fights. Why does growth hurt so badly?

I read your article about the person with a boss who falls asleep and it inspired me to write. What about a boss who is a fluffy, “everything is beautiful” person who never admits anything is wrong?

When I meet with him alone in his office, rather than engage, my boss reads his emails or notes on his desk and once – true story – he fell asleep in his chair as I was speaking to him.

Is there a way to politely ask the male advisors I work with not to make everything a sports metaphor?

It’s frustrating because our boss thinks what we do is never enough.

The lead advisor at my firm is a Boomer and has a firm view that everyone should work for their opportunities. But to him this means staying late every single night, coming in on weekends and basically doing lousy jobs that no one else wants to do, like cleaning the conference room after late-night meetings.

Kicking off 2020, our boss told us she was pitting us against each other in our goals to create competition between us.

We recently hired a female advisor because our founder is focused on “diversity.” But she had a questionable track record at another firm, left there on bad terms and has rubbed people the wrong way. What do you think about this trend toward diversity for the sake of diversity?

Do you believe it is possible for someone to truly change their style and approach? One of our senior advisors has hired a very expensive coach to work with him to become a better person.

Our designated successor is not at all like his father, who founded our firm. He is arrogant, does not listen, seems disinterested in the investment side of our business and has already alienated one client by asking inappropriate questions.

To celebrate another great year of doing the work I do with my firm’s valued clients, this week’s column is devoted to resolutions I hope you are able to make and keep in your businesses.

My boss overcommits. No matter how many times we get our work finalized, she adds something that creates an uproar and we have to redo the whole plan.

Our office manager is sleeping with one of our principals.

I’m not interested in letting most of my staff go. But I am also not up for adding to staff and therefore expenses.

I have a team of five who do analysis, trading and help craft investment strategy for the firm. But a couple of our advisors insist on implementing their own investment philosophies.

During the interview process, a job candidate I liked very much talked about another offer she was considering and mentioned one of the benefits was “unlimited paid time off.”

Clients are nervous. Things have been good for so long and, as one client told me, when she asked us to move most of her assets into safe instruments, “What goes up will eventually come down and possibly come down really hard.” We don’t agree.

How do I get my financial advisors to understand they don’t know everything about their clients?

As a senior woman in the investment industry, I am consistently appalled at how my male colleagues think nothing of talking about a woman’s physique, “beauty” or personality in my presence.

What’s the value of niche marketing? Does it limit you and make you more narrowly focused than you should be?

Clients have started commenting on the connection between my new, expensive car (which I am excited about) and their fees.

Should my support staff and younger advisors meet with clients?

We’re being asked to cut expenses across the board. In our world, we have to take clients out to dinner and spend money to make money.

Younger advisors shouldn’t need so much coaching and mentoring. They should have to figure it out, just like I did.

Our advisory firm is very professional with clients. But on days we do not have clients visiting we have a casual dress policy. Our guidelines are clear and most people adhere by wearing decent clothing. But one person doesn’t…

Would it be wrong to feature an article on one of our long-time (32 year) team members who worked in our office and passed away very suddenly a couple of weeks ago?

How do you push someone who is doing well – from a financial and “numbers” perspective – to do things differently?

I can’t get out of here before 7 p.m. and working weekends to catch up. I’m not sure what I’ve done wrong.

We are holding a client event on climate change and what each person can do to help. The problem is a couple of my team members have chosen to make this about politics.

Isn’t the purpose of marketing to increase awareness and bring in prospects? I would like to see some new fee revenue associated with what our marketing firm is doing to offset the cost.

How does an advisor know when the time is right to merge their practice?

It would be nice to have a more personal discussion with my clients and not just always talk about portfolio results.

I will share some general thoughts and observations about things I see, teach and understand about the challenges financial advisors face. Here are five themes to consider.

Is it my role to fix a troubling, persistent personality conflict between two key team members?

I have joined a “lifestyle practice,” meaning that the lead advisors care as much about their personal lives and other interests as they do about growing the firm.

Do we have to hire a recruiter? The cost is prohibitive for a small firm like ours (we are nine people). Where are advisors having success finding the right talent?

Could buying my team a book help them be more effective at sales? I am very skeptical. Convince me.

I’m looking for an employee performance-measurement process that works and is easy to implement and use.

I don’t want to give up my practice. But I have this gnawing desire to do more with my life.

My boss, the senior advisor, is a no-nonsense, almost nasty guy.