Surveys have shown us that clients value the sense of understanding of their financial position and the confidence that their advisers bring. These emotional responses help advisers to keep their clients invested in troubling times when the natural response maybe to run, to cash it all in, to make it stop and to make the disturbing headlines irrelevant.
The magnitude of the financial problems facing the UK are testing advisers’ own emotional resilience to its limits.Advisers know the value they bring through the behavioural coaching that they deliver, to hold their clients’ hands and to give them the resilience not to make poor decisions that their future selves will come to regret.
Those advisers who kept their clients invested through the 2008 crash preserved the wealth and financial prospects of those individuals and their families. It may have been just one empathetic conversation that stated you knew how they were feeling, but that the pain would end, which had the greatest impact.
Financial woes ranging further
So here we are again, but maybe with a difference.
A recent survey has shown that a large proportion of people are acutely worried about their finances again but, unlike 2008, the spectrum of concerned clients may be far wider, ranging from young first-time buyers trying to secure a mortgage to elder clients that have seen the value of their ‘cautiously invested’ retirement provisions fall.
We recently conducted research that measured more than 700 advisers on five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and emotional stability.
The results showed that successful advisers positively correlated with higher levels of emotional stability and openness. These embrace the capacity for resilience and ability to embrace change.
No one has ever laid on their deathbed and thought: 'You know, I just wish I had spent more time in the office.'This makes sense when you think about it as our clients look to us for guidance and stability when times are tough. However, clearly the magnitude of the financial problems facing the UK are testing advisers’ own emotional resilience to its limits.
According to an Aegon survey, more than 40 per cent of advisers have said they have felt more stressed at work as a result of the current state of the economy and the recent "mini" Budget. One of the reasons for this may well be that a wider range of clients have been negatively impacted.
The dream of that house move, a child’s education or vision of a comfortable retirement are all under threat. That is a wide demographic with diverse financial objectives that are all impacted and that makes for challenging and emotionally driven conversations.
Help yourself first
It is crucial that any adviser who did find recent weeks particularly stressful or overwhelming does not shy away from addressing their own wellbeing, so they can ensure they remain resilient and ultimately provide value to their clients.
If you have ever taken a flight, you will know the instruction to put our own oxygen masks on first before helping others. So, we need to consider our own wellbeing – and I mean really take time to consider it.
Your family, colleagues, community and friends need you and if you are running a business, your staff, suppliers and clients also need you to be in a position to lead.
Do not be afraid to tell them that you are not immune to these anxieties.The Aegon research shows that the additional stress piled onto advisers in the past few weeks has had an effect outside work too, with 32 per cent of those surveyed unable to see family and friends as often, and almost a third (30 per cent) unable to sleep.
So how do you tackle this?
Take control of your diary. If, as more than a third of advisers have stated, you are struggling to find time to see friends and family, ensure that you are better disciplined with your diary and block out time for those you love and who need you.
It is understandable and necessary to provide support to clients and research has also shown that being a financial adviser is a rewarding and enjoyable career, but no one has ever laid on their deathbed and thought: 'You know, I just wish I had spent more time in the office.'
Be open
And during the time you have carved out for your family, discuss what is going on. Over the past months I have found myself having conversations with my daughters about the Cold War and explaining what a gilt is, subjects I never thought they would raise.
But the infinity pools of social media mean that they are exposed to the nation’s anxieties too and we are well-positioned to educate our family and friends about what is going on at home and in the wider world. Also do not be afraid to tell them that you are not immune to these anxieties in the same way that doctors are not immune from illness.
Advisers have doubtlessly been mindful of others, but we also all need to be mindful of ourselves.Lead with your own vulnerability. Being open might just help you relieve those feelings of stress that advisers have reported.
Often just the process of filtering your experiences and relaying them to others can have a positive impact. Family and friends will be much more receptive than you could ever imagine if you do stick your hand up and say you are struggling. Equally, if you feel these are becoming acute then you may want to opt for help from a professional.
Whatever route you take, just make sure you do not bottle-up stress as it will find a way out of your system and maybe at a point and in a way you least expect it, and by that time it can have become uncontrollable.
Try and create a gap between thought and reaction as we do not tend to make our best decisions when simply reacting to our immediate thoughts. If you can try and examine what is making you think a certain way, then you may find that you can better rationalise any feelings of anxiety and this process is best undertaken outside the work environment.
Fail to get this right and stress can get the better of you, which ultimately will impact your clients anyway.The key message though is throughout the financial crash in 2008, the pandemic and this current financial situation, advisers have doubtlessly been mindful of others, but we also all need to be mindful of ourselves.
Have good diary discipline, make time for your family and friends, talk to them or others about your concerns and think before reacting.
All this can help boost your resilience in the face of what is a stressful period. Fail to get this right and stress can get the better of you, which ultimately will impact your clients anyway.
So, to quote those other great philosophers, the Foo Fighters, "it's times like these you learn to live again, it's times like these you give and give again".
Mark Pittaccio is a business consultant and behavioural economist at Quilter Financial Planning
