Robert J. Glovsky: "Clients became increasingly nervous and wanted action"

Q: In what way did you help your clients during the financial crisis? A: As time went on, clients became increasingly nervous and wanted action. Our clients needed to know we were with them. We met with them in person. We talked with them on the phone. We sent out a lot of communication on the market, on the volatility we were seeing, on the need for patience. Our approach was to encourage them to stay the course. We don't do market timing. We never knew how far it would fall or when it would come back. But we were always confident it would come back. We talked to them about economic cycles in the country. Even in the Great Depression, we came back. It was all about perspective. The perspective was: How are clients doing against their goals? We talked to them about retirement planning, the education of their kids, estate and tax planning — all the different areas that affect them, as well as their investments. In most cases, they were fine. All of our clients have made their money back plus some. Many of them have thanked us over the years for being the voice of calm and reason. They would have pulled out of the market left on their own. Robert J. Glovsky Vice chairman The Colony Group LLC Boston —as told to Mark Schoeff Jr. NEXT CRISIS COMMENTARY - Theodore Feight: "What started keeping me up at night throughout the crisis..."