Steer clients clear of bear trap with action steps in March’s Advisor’s Edge

(March 10, 2003) Unfortunately, the bear market has been a familiar theme with advisors and their clients for far too long already. However, rather than just offering familiar advice, the March issue of Advisor’s Edge digs deeper with a host of industry experts offering actionable tips to preserve client wealth in these unsteady times.

“Advisors are really looking for all the help they can get, because it has been one of the longest bear markets in recent memory,” says Deanne Gage, managing editor of Advisor’s Edge. “This story features tips that go beyond the basics such as telling your clients to ‘buy and hold’ — it goes deeper than that, like ‘fire your under-performing investments.'”

Other no-nonsense tips focus on true diversification beyond mutual funds, protecting clients from themselves with a proper Investment Policy Statement and one that recommends choosing a strategy opposite of what feels natural for the client. “The tendency is to chase [recent hot-performing products or stocks] and latch on now,” says Perry Berezan, an investment advisor at BMO Nesbitt Burns in Calgary, in the article. “But that’s what we have to learn from the whole tech disaster where everybody chased the techs. People have to be reminded of that. You might catch the latter end of the rise but you better be willing to jump off after you get some kind of return.”

Along with advice to keep clients safe from the bear’s claws, the current issue of Advisor’s Edge takes a realistic look at married advisors who work with their spouses. “This story really addresses a lot of the conflicts that these couples had early on and the lessons they had to learn about each other’s personalities and lifestyle, because it isn’t easy. At the end of the day, you have to go home together and you’re with this person all the time — it’s a real challenge in some regards,” notes Gage.

The magazine’s current issue also offers some strategies for advisors working with clients who have come into a sudden windfall either through inheritance or a lottery win to help them cope financially and psychologically. (For an additional look at “sudden money,” please click here.)

• • •

To register for a free one-year subscription or to view archived Advisor’s Edge articles, please click here.

• • •

For more help protecting client wealth in bearish times, Advisor.ca has assembled a special package of insights and tools that is available online now by clicking here.

• • •

Filed by John Craig, Advisor.ca, jcraig@advisor.ca.

(03/10/03)