{"id":681683,"date":"2026-05-20T10:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/681683\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T10:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:35:08","slug":"been-ghosted-by-a-client-try-not-to-take-it-personally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/681683\/","title":{"rendered":"Been ghosted by a client? Try not to take it personally"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Financial ghosting has become an increasingly familiar part of the job, exposing just how tangled money can become with shame, identity and emotional avoidance.CurvaBezier\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Financial advisors are used to guiding clients through market crashes, divorces and retirement fears. What catches many off guard is complete silence.<\/p>\n

When calls go unanswered, e-mails pile up and financial plans stall halfway through, advisors are left wondering whether the client is overwhelmed, embarrassed, angry, or simply avoiding a conversation they no longer know how to have.<\/p>\n

Financial ghosting has become an increasingly familiar part of the job, exposing just how tangled money can become with shame, identity and emotional avoidance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the hardest parts is you often never get answers,\u201d says David Heyman, an investment advisor at iA Private Wealth Inc. in Victoria.<\/p>\n

Mr. Heyman recalls one couple he had worked with for years. The relationship appeared solid. They trusted him enough to send their son to open tax-free savings and first home savings accounts. But after he called to discuss cash accumulating in their accounts, communication stopped abruptly.<\/p>\n

Over the next two years, he sent polite e-mails, left voicemails and text messages asking them to reconnect. He even mailed a letter to their home. There was no reply.<\/p>\n

Finally, suspecting his calls were being screened, he phoned from a different number. The wife answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I said who I was, she was miffed and said they were all very busy and would get back to me when they could,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was no explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Months later, the husband transferred part of his portfolio to an online brokerage while leaving other assets behind. Then, more than a year later, the couple suddenly reappeared for an annual review.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe invested the cash and had a lovely chat,\u201d Mr. Heyman says. \u201cBut I decided not to ask why they had been out of touch for so long, because I didn\u2019t feel they\u2019d tell me the truth anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial ghosting can be easily interpreted as disrespect or dissatisfaction. But advisors say the silence shouldn\u2019t be taken personally. <\/p>\n

\u201cA meeting with a financial advisor is an intimate occasion,\u201d Mr. Heyman says. \u201cClients will often reveal information they\u2019ve never told anyone else, even their spouse, but only when they fully trust you.\u201d<\/p>\n

When that trust falters, or when clients feel embarrassed by debt, overspending, divorce or failed investments, avoidance can take over.<\/p>\n

Mr. Heyman now emphasizes early on that clients need to stay in touch for him to do his job properly. He also encourages them to name a trusted contact he can legally reach out to if communication stops suddenly.<\/p>\n

But shame and avoidance don\u2019t always stem from financial problems. Sometimes, they emerge during major life transitions when emotional bandwidth is already stretched thin.<\/p>\n

Kimberly Wood, a wealth advisor with the Johnstone Wealth Management Group at National Bank Financial Wealth Management in Toronto, recalls a client who reached out excitedly about buying a home with their fianc\u00e9. <\/p>\n

They began reviewing financing strategies, tax considerations and portfolio adjustments. Then, communication stopped completely.<\/p>\n

Rather than pushing harder, Ms. Wood continued checking in periodically with calm, low-pressure messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned to approach these situations with understanding and confidence in the relationship,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not personal. Life just happens.\u201c<\/p>\n

Eventually, the client returned and the conversation resumed almost seamlessly.<\/p>\n

\u201cClients may delay sending documents, cancel meetings repeatedly, give short responses or say they\u2019re too busy when something deeper is going on,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cOften, anxiety translates into silence not because they don\u2019t care, but because engaging feels emotionally difficult in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avoiding judgment, she says, is critical to rebuilding trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a client returns after a long gap, I focus on removing the weight of what happened,\u201d Ms. Wood says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI usually say something like, \u2018I\u2019m glad you reached out, and we can take things from where you are now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Reducing administrative stress<\/p>\n

Clients can also appear energized about financial planning when they reach certain milestones, such as starting a family or changing careers. But momentum can evaporate once the process becomes tedious, says Galen Nuttall, a financial planner at Maxim Advisory Group in Belleville, Ont.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething slows down the process, like gathering documents or getting specific about their goals,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Rather than becoming resigned to those delays, Mr. Nuttall tries to reduce the emotional friction around administrative tasks.<\/p>\n

When a client mentioned she would send her financial information \u201cat some point,\u201d he offered to stay on the call while she gathered the numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe pulled up numbers from her CRA account, looked up long-lost pension information and gave me numbers to estimate CPP,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At the end of the call, the client admitted that without the extra support, it might have taken her weeks to complete the task.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollaborating at these difficult points can be a good way to keep the process going and prevent long gaps in communication,\u201d Mr. Nuttall says.<\/p>\n

But sometimes advisors never learn what happened.<\/p>\n

Barbara Stewart, a chartered financial analyst and author in Toronto, recalls meeting a prominent chief executive who seemed eager to work with her after being referred by his sister, an existing client.<\/p>\n

The next day, a courier arrived containing a $10-million cheque.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I needed to do was get the paperwork signed,\u201d Ms. Stewart says.<\/p>\n

She arranged to meet him that afternoon, travelled across the city and waited outside his office. Eventually, his assistant emerged to say he had gone home sick.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd guess what?\u201d she says. \u201cI never heard from him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite several follow-ups, the CEO vanished completely, leaving Ms. Stewart with unanswered questions and an unusable cheque.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas he embarrassed about something he had said during our meeting? Did he suddenly realize he didn\u2019t want the same money manager as his younger sister? Was he simply a rude jerk?\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI never found out. But I continued managing money for his sister for years after.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Financial ghosting has become an increasingly familiar part of the job, exposing just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1397,45,49,48,133,5266,2922,131,132],"class_list":["post-681683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-appwebview","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-globe-advisor","tag-noastack","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}