As financial advisors, we can be worried about offending our clients. We may not tell you the hard truths when you are dithering about your accounts going down.
The tendency to handle clients with kid gloves could be harmful because we don’t just tell it like it is. I think you can handle it. Plus, I woke up today in a blunt mood, so now you are going to get the real deal about what financial advisors are thinking during volatile market times.
First read this Parental Advisory Warning (like Netflix). By reading ahead, you might encounter discomfort, embarrassment, regret, and develop a dislike for the author. No nudity or smoking, though.
Still with me? Here it is:
- We are not living in unprecedented times. Famines, wars, nuclear threats, democracies falling (and rising), racism, income inequality, sexual harassment, climate problems, displacement of large populations, nasty politics, even – yes– pandemics. They’ve all happened before and will happen again. What would be unprecedented is if these things weren’t happening.
- The stock market’s biggest gains happen on very few days. If you try to sit out the bad days and just get the good ones, it won’t work and your personal returns will stink.
- If you stay invested in “safe” investments (i.e., CDs earning .5%), your retirement plan will fail. Safely of course, but failure, nonetheless.
- To only want to be invested in the stock market when it goes up and be out when it is down is the mentality of a toddler. “I only want to eat candy and never any vegetables.” Yeah, I told you it would get hot in here.
- If you want to see your assets grow, you must endure occasional losses. Recessions natural part of the investment cycle. Wait. It. Out.
Lucky for you I have run out of steam. Next week, on to sunnier subjects! If you haven’t unsubscribed.
