Do you remember as a small child being scared at night? Your room became a night time horror chamber with a Boogie Man ready to jump out and get you! That fear was completely imaginary but also totally real! As a nation we’ve been running from the Boogie Man. Everyone I meet has been struggling with fear: advisors, organizational leaders and all the clients. That fear is real and has to be dealt with.
The New York Times published an article in early March interviewing a Wall Street advisor of 25 years who studied psychology before entering financial services. He reports the best preparation for Wall Street was his study of human emotion (see the link provided for the full article). His viewpoint of the current state of affairs? People are scared and it doesn’t matter how much money they’ve got. The scary feelings are just as strong whether clients have $50 thousand or $50 million in assets. Why?
In psycho-babble terms it’s called Anchoring. We all create an anchor or benchmark by which we measure life. Dipping below the benchmark evokes fear. That’s to be expected and is normal. The trouble starts when we can’t take our eyes off the anchor and move forward. It can be tough to recover – no doubt! But moving ahead is way better than the alternative. Emotionally skilled advisors can help clients move forward productively and confidently. We can flip the lights on and help them banish the Boogie Man.
Fact of the Day
Trying to avoid or ignore fear frequently makes it worse! The more we avoid it, the more powerful it becomes. Just like the facing the Boogie Man, we need to flip on the lights and look under the bed. Only then can you deal with it.
Tip of the Day
If you need to, get trained on techniques for working through emotions. Talk about how clients are feeling. Talking directly about fear will not make it worse. In most cases it will actually reduce the fear by getting it out. Even better, you may find that it disappears in the light of facing it head-on.
Resource Link
Handling Investments and Investors’ Fears – New York Times (online), March 3, 2010 by Geraldine Fabrikant
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/business/retirementspecial/04MIND.html
