Demonstrate your value by redirecting clients to what’s controllable
When the world feels out of control, you help your client — and show your value as a financial advisor — by redirecting their focus from what can’t be controlled...
Tag Archives: financial planning
Providing economic stability in uncertain times
This is not the first time economic markets have gone down and we cringed at the daily headlines. About a decade ago, retirement expert Tom Hegna, CLU, ChFC, presented at an...
What’s the best movie about people in the financial services profession?
Updated April 2020: Spending more time at home lately and needing some movie recommendations? See below! There are so, so, so many movies about cops and lawyers. If you’re in one...
5 ways to ease clients’ recession fears
Fear promotes more fear. In the economic world, it can lead to market disruption. Recently, threats of a global coronavirus pandemic have led to pronounced market volatility, adding to swings...
Questions that build better financial futures
Questions are powerful. They allow financial advisors to understand their clients and their loved ones better and, therefore, create better-protected financial futures for them. Questions also can evoke a moment...
I was wrong about how clients view young advisors
When I was straight out of college and starting as a financial advisor, I thought being young was an obstacle to my success. I imagined the client thinking “I am...
MDRT member secures first-ever loss-of-value payout for active NFL player
UPDATE: This post won a 2019 EXCEL award for individual blog post. See all the winners (including another MDRT Blog item!) here. It’s not often that something...
Ensure your client’s family never has to say ‘If only I had known’
As financial advisors, we help clients focus on investment strategies, wealth creation and death benefits. We shouldn’t stop there, though. When a client dies without their affairs in order, it...
Gaining client trust so they will be honest about their challenges
I met with a prospect and had my own assumptions about how things were going with him. But it took probably a good year for us to develop trust in...
How to end client procrastination
We need to get our clients to stop thinking in the world of probability and start thinking in the world of consequences. Our clients think our business is only about...
The importance of goal-based financial planning
We obtain financial advice at different stages in our lives: When we purchase our first home, we seek advice and inquire as to how large of a mortgage we qualify...
Questions to discover more about a client’s family
Knowing what to ask when a new client comes into your office is the first step toward meeting their financial needs and developing a long-term relationship. But asking the right...
Enhance your relationships with some creative TV placement
Unless you have special access to unprecedented technology or are Michael Keaton in “Multiplicity,” you can’t be in two places at once. So if you want to be out in...
It’s better to hire no one than hire the wrong person
When you move to the remote Yukon Territory and put out a call for in-office staff, lines are not exactly out the door. But with so much work to be...
Creating a symbol of daily motivation in your office
Money was tight in the business and family for Peter Jason Byrne in 2009. It certainly wasn’t the right time to spend $4,000 on a Vespa he came across on...
