Clients hate volatility? Here’s help

We’ve been here before, it’s just getting harder to remember whether it was three years ago or last month.

Clients hate volatility. But recent events have given you practice working with clients who are ready to press the panic button, sell everything, and then go long on canned tuna and bottled water.

Here are some ideas to help you coach clients through the next few months:

Forgotten insurance practices shine in volatile markets

When markets are turbulent, traditional protection-based insurance planning has usually increased. That’s because advisors who work with a variety of products and do holistic planning don’t often implement recommendations all at once.

Dealing with currency volatility

While unsteady equity or bond markets that are going up are easier to handle than inconstant markets that are going down, for most investors, day-to-day volatility is still something to be endured rather than embraced.

Volatility, prepared clients and opportunity

As the market turmoil continues, advisors again have an opportunity to demonstrate their value. This opportunity should not be missed — volatile times are when clients look to their advisors for proactive advice.

Exceptional communication in volatile times

Clients want to know that you know what you are doing and that you understand their unique situations.

Volatile times call for long-term view

From the great recession of 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis to the geo-political turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East, the world has experienced tremendous upheaval.

Stock options in volatile times

If some of your clients have stock options as part of their employment package, they should be aware of how these options are taxed, and the risks associated with this type of compensation.

Dividend-paying stocks making a comeback

Once denigrated as the province of widows and orphans, dividend-paying stocks are being seen in a new light by investors who have weathered the highly volatile stock market of the past decade.

How behavioural finance can affect retirement

Volatile financial markets are not helpful to the economics of retirement. They can cause stress, worry or, depending on your risk tolerance, buying opportunities.

Retirements last longer than the market correction

Even if some of your clients choose to retire later than they had planned, the length of their retirement is likely to be just as long as if they didn’t delay their retirement.

Rewarding risk

Managers will deny it, but they all try to “time markets,” a notoriously difficult and expensive pastime frowned upon by academics and knowledgeable investors.