How important is your "risk tolerance" when choosing an investment?

 

One of my earliest client when I was starting in PAMI way back in 1995 was a lady who keeps telling me she is a conservative investor, she asked me which among the mutual funds we offer is the most appropriate for her

with this information, I promptly recommended our bond fund - a fund that invests primarily in high grade corporate bonds and government securities

I visited her in early 2020 just before the lockdown to give her an update, I happily reported that the 500,000 she initially invested in 1995 in the bond fund is now worth 1.3 million - a 166% GAIN!

Leaving her office a thought came to my mind, considering her long holding period (25 years), what if I recommended the equity fund instead? 

Lesson learned: as financial advisors it is important that we ask all the appropriate questions during our interview, aside from knowing a client's risk preference, we should also try to find out the client's intended holding period among others, combine these information together to come up with a more market responsive financial advice

#acgadvice

Build your prospect base through advocacy

 

This is the promise to successful financial advisors

at the end of the day, its a numbers game, our chances of success is a direct proportion to the number of "interested" persons we talked to

• the best way to turn a lead into a prospect is to generate interest, 
• the best way to generate interest is to provide high quality financial information that can help improve their financial position, 

providing helpful information for FREE is our advocacy

Giving it out for free without any commitments will help in gaining access to more people

the more people we advocate to; more people may avail of our products and services

Going on a mission of financial advocacy-providing free high quality financial information may seem like a futile exercise, you have to think of it as if you are planting seeds, while there is no guarantee that all the seeds will bear fruit, some of it may grow into something worthwhile

call reluctance is what stops most of us from seeing a lot of people, it is the result of not being able to handle rejections very well

Changing the "context" of your encounter with a lead  from a sales call to an advocacy sharing meeting will give you the moral boost to see even more people, 

because the objective of advocacy is simply to share, you will find fulfillment, and will want to do it again, and again, and again

on the side of your lead, the information you provide may cause him to want to know more, this will give you the opportunity for a second meeting 

give first and you shall receive

#acgadvice