\n The numbers matter less than you think. In volatile markets, the advisor who shows up, listens, and stays calm will outlast the one who just manages portfolios\n <\/p>\n
I’ve\u00a0been in this business for over four decades.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0lived through Black Monday, the dot com collapse, the Great Financial Crisis, COVID, and every major correction in between. And if there is one thing I know with absolute certainty, it is this: when markets fall apart, clients\u00a0don’t\u00a0call their advisor to talk about beta or duration. They call because\u00a0they’re\u00a0scared. They want to know if\u00a0they’re\u00a0going to be okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That question\u2014”Am I going to be okay?”\u2014is the most important question any advisor will ever be asked. How you answer it, and how consistently you show up for clients when they ask it, defines the kind of advisor you truly are.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The emotional support advisor\u00a0<\/p>\n
Behavioral\u00a0finance has moved from academic concept to practical necessity. For all the attention we pay to portfolio construction and asset allocation<\/a>, the real work in a volatile market is managing fear. Clients\u00a0don’t\u00a0come into financial planning<\/a> as rational actors; they come as human beings, shaped by emotion, loss aversion, and the very real anxiety that comes with watching their savings decline.\u00a0<\/p>\n I learned this early. On the evening of October 19, 1987: Black Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 500 points in a single session. This\u00a0represented\u00a0a 25% drop in one day. I was three years into the business and found myself sitting on my couch watching CNN as commentators declared the end of financial civilization as we knew it. My phone rang all night. Clients\u00a0weren’t\u00a0calling for investment advice. They were calling to make sure I was still there, that I\u00a0hadn’t\u00a0disappeared, that there was someone on their side who had a plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n That night taught me more about this profession than any textbook ever could. Being accessible in the hard moments is not optional. It is the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n The instinct for some advisors (I’ve\u00a0seen it firsthand) is to minimize. To say, “don’t worry, we’ll get through it.” I understand the impulse: you want to reassure, to calm. But clients are perceptive, and they know when\u00a0they’re\u00a0being brushed off. The more powerful approach is to acknowledge what\u00a0they’re\u00a0feeling before you move to solutions. People\u00a0don’t\u00a0care what you know until they know that you care. Clients are depending on you to be their port in the storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once\u00a0you’ve\u00a0done that\u2014once they feel genuinely heard\u2014you can move into your role as the calm in the storm. Even if you feel some internal uncertainty yourself, your clients need you to remain steady. Remind them\u00a0you’ve\u00a0seen this play before. Remind them the plan was built for this. And then, critically, show them the plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n Consistency is the real differentiator\u00a0<\/p>\n Every market crisis\u00a0I’ve\u00a0navigated has reinforced one lesson above all others: the advisors who come out stronger are the ones who dramatically increase client communication when things get difficult. Not just for their most anxious clients, not just for the ones who call. For everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n When COVID hit in 2020, we shifted our quarterly\u00a0BullTalk\u00a0client update to a weekly program. Every Thursday at 12:30 p.m., clients could call in for a 30-minute briefing on markets and the economy and could ask questions in real time. Six years later,\u00a0we’re\u00a0still doing it every week, and the participation has never dropped off.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0had clients tell me\u00a0they’re\u00a0more faithful listeners to that program than they are to their weekly religious service.\u00a0I’ve\u00a0had others use it as a first introduction for a friend they want to refer.\u00a0<\/p>\n That kind of consistency, week after week, channel after channel,\u00a0isn’t\u00a0glamorous. But it builds something no competitor can easily\u00a0replicate:\u00a0trust<\/a>. It moves the relationship from portfolio manager to trusted advisor, from service provider to faithful advocate. Clients\u00a0don’t\u00a0remember your quarterly returns as vividly as they remember whether you were there when it mattered.\u00a0<\/p>\n What history teaches us about staying in the game\u00a0<\/p>\n In October 2022, after a stretch of significant market turbulence, we put together a piece we called\u00a0“How to Survive a Bear\u00a0Market\u00a0Attack.”<\/a>\u00a0We approached it almost like a Boy Scout field guide\u2014practical, grounded in historical perspective, and honest about the fact that bear markets are neither new nor permanent. The three-part framework\u2014be prepared, avoid panic, stay confident\u2014gave clients a concrete playbook rather than mere platitudes. It became the most requested piece of content our practice has ever produced.\u00a0<\/p>\n The message was straightforward: we have been here before, we know how this story ends, and we will navigate through it together. Framed in that way, a bear market<\/a> stops being a catastrophe and becomes a chapter. That\u00a0“How to Survive a Bear\u00a0Market\u00a0Attack” field guide<\/a>\u00a0is still available for any advisor looking for a practical model for client communication in a downturn.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former U.S. President and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces Dwight D. Eisenhower said it best: \u201cplans are worthless, but planning is everything.\u201d The plan will always need to be adapted. What cannot adapt is your commitment to the clients sitting across from you. Avoid jargon. Speak plainly. Keep them invested. Because clients who stay in the game have a chance to recover, and the ones who panic and sell are the ones who turn a temporary downturn into a permanent loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n After four decades, that\u00a0remains\u00a0the most important work I do: helping clients stay the course when every instinct they have says\u00a0run.\u00a0That’s\u00a0not portfolio management<\/a>.\u00a0That’s\u00a0our\u00a0profession.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pickler Wealth Advisors, 1135 Halle Park Circle, Collierville, TN 38017, 901-316-0160\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n