Title: An Advisor's Role as Behavioral Coach
Headings: An Advisor's Role as Behavioral Coach
An Advisor's Role as Behavioral Coach
Key Takeaways
Behavioral Finance
Market Volatility & Returns
Where Advisors Add Value
The Power of Listening
Differentiating Yourself
The Bottom Line
Article Sources

Content: How do they feel about money? What financial issues keep them up at night? In order to be a strong behavioral coach, it’s important to have a baseline for each client. Understanding their concerns, goals, and fears is a starting point from which you will be able to help steer their financial behavior. When prospecting, active listening will help you to catch red flags that would lead you to suggest that you may not be the best advisor for their particular situation. Differentiating Yourself
In the face of downward fee pressure and the commodification of traditional advisory practices, advisors are increasingly trying to add new services to their toolkit. Enterprising advisors use services like behavioral coaching to then help clients navigate life decisions, such as where to retire to, from both a values-oriented and a financial standpoint. For example, while it might make financial sense to relocate to a lower-cost area of the country, will your client really be happy living far from her friends and family? Advisors who integrate their clients’ values and nonfinancial concerns with their financial plans will increasingly have a leg up on other advisors who are more one-dimensional. This approach can help you achieve client buy-in and deepen their commitment to the financial plan that you construct with them.