I was recently talking with an advisor about a client who was uneasy about the latest conflict and the volatility that came with it. He reached out to me because effective client communication during periods like this matters. He wanted to get it right.
The concern wasn’t just about markets.
This client had seen strong portfolio growth over the past few years. At the same time, he believed a sustained downturn could impact his job. So the real fear wasn’t, “markets might go down.”
It was, “What happens if my income is affected and I need to pull from my investments at the wrong time?”
This wasn’t a conversation about going to cash. It was a conversation about responsibility.
How much, if any, should be taken off the table; how to balance continued growth with a buffer for the unknown.
What Changed the Conversation
The advisor didn’t rush to reallocate. He reached out to me, and we talked through a few different ways to approach the conversation with the client.
From there, he took a measured approach, walking through what the client actually owned, and why.
One detail stood out.
The client owned a meaningful amount of dividend paying investments. So the advisor explicitly showed how much annual income those holdings were generating.
The client had no idea.
Most of his assets were in retirement accounts where the income was being reinvested, and there were no obvious reminders like tax forms.
When he saw the number, everything shifted.
He realized he had a source of potential income. He saw that, if needed, he could live off the dividend income without selling at depressed prices.
His perception of risk changed.
Not because the portfolio changed, but because his understanding did.
The conversation moved away from “Should we get more conservative?” and toward, “What is the least we need in cash and bonds to create a buffer so I don’t make a bad decision later?”
That is a very different conversation.
The Opportunity Most Advisors Miss
We often talk about extremes. Clients going all in or all out.
That happens, but it is not most conversations.
Most clients are trying to be responsible. They want to prepare for difficult scenarios while still participating in long term growth.
What stood out to me in this situation was how powerful it was to explicitly show the income being generated inside the portfolio.
Dividends and interest tend to be far less volatile than prices. When clients see that, it gives them something stable to anchor to.
Financially, it creates options. Psychologically, it creates confidence.
And that combination leads to better decisions.
If you are looking for more ways to communicate ideas like this with clients, this is exactly the type of perspective we focus on inside the Behavioral Finance Network.
You can view sample client ready behavioral content that helps investors maintain perspective and make better decisions at: https://behavioralfinancenetwork.com/content-sample/
As we help clients see what they already own and understand it better, we can help them stay grounded when it matters most.