Advisers are focusing their energies on communicating with clients, managing investment expectations and trying to keep investors from tuning in to CNBC during this volatile market environment.
With 2016 starting off with daily market swings of hundreds of points, experienced advisers are boosting their calls, emails and webcasts with clients to reiterate the reasoning behind investment portfolios, according to a group of successful registered investment advisers gathered at TD Ameritrade's national adviser conference in Orlando, Fla.
"We are doing massive amounts of outreach to clients to keep us their sole focus," said Ric Edelman, chief executive of Edelman Financial Services. "If we don't reach out to our clients, someone else will."
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The advisory industry learned from the 2008 collapse that ignoring the stress market volatility has on clients is a bad idea because clients who feel ignored tend to move their money elsewhere
Advisers said part of their jobs is to quell emotions that are whipped up by financial media that covers moment-to-moment moves of the stock market.
"I counsel my clients to stay away from CNBC," said Darlene Murphy, president of Wellesley Investment Advisors.
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Randy Conner, president of Churchill Management Group, said his firm didn't do a particularly good job of preparing clients for volatility before the declines in 2008, and it didn't recognize the importance of communicating proactively.
That's changed now. Today the firm hosts "Seinfeld hours" where they invite groups of clients to come in and talk about "nothing," or rather nothing in particular.
The open question format, often with lunch served, allows clients to ask about issues on their minds, and the advisers' answers often help other clients who may not have realized they were wondering the same thing.
"Even just being invited to these meetings has had a positive impact on clients because it shows they're being thought about," Mr. Conner said.
