"HatTip" - Mother to Son: "I have no idea what you do."

When your mum asks you how your clients are handling the bad news around the markets and you answer "Very well: they have been silent", I guess you are asking for trouble.

But that is why I am called Nick "Trouble Is My Middle Name" Lincoln: brave to a fault, I go where others fear to tread. And if antagonising your mother is not a sure fire route to perdition then I do not know what is.

Now I do not rile her deliberately; I am fond of my mother - she has been like a parent to me. But she
doesn't "get it". Like many many others she probably expects a financial adviser to be in regular contact with his or her clients whether markets are good, bad or indifferent.

And many advisers do just that. They issue relentless cruddy newsletters containing "insights" into what has caused share prices to fall, and forecasts about what will (probably) cause them to rise - and when. All utter tosh, of course (this is a blog; this is my opinion: take it or leave it).

Perhaps the greatest service a financial planner can offer is to protect clients from themselves. 

I don't talk about the markets with my clients, unless it is unavoidable. Investment performance reviews take up less than 10% of our time during client meetings. Why? Because in the other 90% we chew the important stuff, the "am I going to be OK?" stuff, the stuff people want to know about.

By not focusing on the investments we help people avoid making rash decisions around money, decisions that can and will have negative and life-long implications. And making hasty, emotive decisions about your investments can be really, really bad for your financial health.

We help our clients to avoid these bad outcomes. Our clients know that their investments are just the fuel powering their financial plans; that these plans transcend decades (generations, in some instances); that what happens to markets in the short term is of little impact when one looks at the bigger picture.

We help clients understand that acting on short term news is very bad long term news - for them.

And our clients "get it". They do not panic when others panic; they do not lose their heads when those around them.... you get the drift.

Unfortunately this is not the norm. Many advisers, instead of acting as a firewall between their clients and the relentless "financial porn" that is now available 24/7, seem intent on pushing even more of it in front of their eyes. This, I think, is what my mother thinks I should be doing - because that is what advisers do, correct?

No. Not correct at all. Clients are welcome to speak to me if they are perturbed about what is happening to their investments. However - to a woman and man - they will all get the same consistent message (a message I repeat during each and every client Annual Planning Meeting):

1. "Don't thank me when markets go up (which they will)"
2. "Go focus on something you can influence (your job, your relationships, your goals), not something you cannot (the markets)"
3. "Don't blame me when markets go down (which they also will)"
4. Repeat point 2 above.

I have been saying this for over a decade. I will be saying the same for decades to come (albeit in a creakier, less steady voice).

Yes, Mr McCartney, my mother should know - but who can blame her for not?

{The above is not specific financial advice aligned to your unique circumstances and requirements. If you act on this article without first reading your own body weight in Key Features Documents, personal illustrations and fund fact-sheets then you may well be struck down by lightning.}

© 2016 Nick Lincoln