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 two or three times your age and you are telling me what to do with my money?”

I tackled this problem head-on. I grew facial hair.

I realize now that my facial hair didn’t make a bit of difference to my clients. But it did make a difference to me. It helped me feel like I was good enough or old enough for them to believe in me. It helped me believe in myself.

Facing obstacles

The real obstacle for me as a young financial advisor was that my clients had much more experience in life than I did. I needed to know things that the clients didn’t know, and I needed to know them like the back of my hand so I would be prepared to show clients how I could help them.

Watch Timothie Williamson Sy in “How to overcome your biggest challenge — your mindset.”

I read books and articles on our industry. I studied and researched. I enrolled in seminars and attended MDRT Annual Meetings. I memorized scripts, and I continuously revised and improved them.

I invested in myself. That investment is something clients notice, and I believe it helped me succeed when I first started. And it continues to help me today.

Nobody said to me, “You can’t be my advisor because you’re young.” That was all inside me.

Thankfully I had a change of mindset. Now I see that it is actually an advantage to be a young advisor. Clients want to be certain that their advisor will be there to help take care of their family when the time comes.

Timothie Williamson Sy, of Bacolod, Philippines, first qualified for MDRT in 2012, which was his first full year as a financial advisor. He now manages 20 advisors. Watch more from Sy in the video, “How to overcome your biggest challenge — your mindset.”

More about how to talk to clients about retirement planning

• Watch “How to talk to millennials about insurance”
• Read “Changing mindsets”
• Watch “The power of words”