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I talk with advisors across the country, and most genuinely want to do what’s right for clients. But too often they slip into doing what’s popular—especially in how they communicate.
Giving “Right” Investment Advice
Most advisors are careful with investment recommendations, aligning them with a client’s financial and psychological risk profile. While investors chase fads such as crypto, real estate, or today’s AI chip stocks. Good advisors keep exposures reasonable and risks clear.
Choosing “Popular” Communication
Here’s where many advisors fall short:
1. Thoughtless Communication
The most common “strategy” is no strategy. They use outsourced newsletters and canned social posts. Popular, yes. But they don’t help clients handle anxiety, uncertainty, or emotions around investing.
2. Feeding the Forecast Addiction
Investors crave market updates, and firms oblige with forecasts and tidy explanations. Advisors pass them along, even though these reports are rarely accurate. It’s financial junk food: popular but harmful. Telling clients to stay disciplined while sending them noise is like warning kids not to smoke, and then handing them a cigarette.
Improving Communication
Advisors say they want clients to trust the plan. That requires thoughtful communication grounded in psychology, not popularity. To truly engage investors, advisors must understand human behavior—and speak to it.
Related: The Real Reason Clients Want To Go to Cash—and How To Talk Them Out of It