Over four decades of financial advising and planning with clients through recessions, booms, bubbles, and recoveries, one thing my experience has taught me it’s the client’s emotional response—not the economic conditions—that subvert their financial trajectory.

In any challenging time, whether brought on by external market factors or internal life events, the question for financial professionals is: how do I help stressed clients see clearly?

To help clients get through difficult times and perhaps even notice opportunities, it takes preparation, visual storytelling, and exercises such as these that help steady them when they do waver. Together, they reframe planning as a conversation about life balance, instilling a connection between present and future selves and values‑aligned meaning.

Understand the Real Risk Is Emotional, Not Economic

When markets plunge or volatility spikes, clients aren’t just worried about their portfolios—they’re anxious about their futures, their families, their retirements. These are very human concerns. Yet it’s precisely in these emotionally charged moments that rational decision-making becomes impaired.

This is when experienced financial planners play their most valuable role: helping clients remain calm and think clearly. It’s your moment to earn trust not through predictions, but through presence.

Setting the Foundation to Help Clients Face Challenges

The best time to guide a client through turbulent times isn’t when panic sets in—it’s long before. Proactive, holistic, collaborative planning strengthens emotional resilience. As a financial planner, your ability to steady clients in uncertain times often depends on three foundational elements: a solid plan, deep confidence built through visual storytelling, and a growing sense of self-awareness.

1. Develop and Adapt the Plan Together

A collaborative approach to creating a comprehensive financial plan is the cornerstone of client security. The result is not just a list of numbers or projections—it’s a living, strategic framework that adapts to changing life conditions. Clients must understand the why behind every component. When they do, the plan becomes more than a document—it becomes a roadmap they believe in.

• The plan becomes an anchor. When panic sets in, it offers clarity and calm. Clients can revisit it and say, “We already accounted for this.” Instead of reacting emotionally, they lean on the framework they helped build—one designed for uncertainty and grounded in their long-term goals.
• It’s more than math—it’s psychology. Collaborative planning fosters a sense of control. Clients shift focus from fear to what they can influence, which strengthens confidence not only in the plan but in their own financial decision-making.
• It’s a stabilizing force. In challenging times, the plan turns an anxious phone call into a productive, grounding conversation. It equips the advisor to lead decisively, reminding clients they’re not navigating alone—they’re following a course set together.

2. Build Confidence in the Plan with Story and Evidence

Clients are more likely to stay on course when they’ve seen how the plan works, not just heard it explained. Visual storytelling—cash flow charts, net worth trends, retirement income projections—transforms abstract numbers into reassuring narratives. Go further: use financial planning technology to simulate worst-case scenarios, stress test the plan, and even attempt to “break” the plan to show its resilience. This kind of transparent, visual demonstration is memorable: a great way to instill client confidence.

• Seeing their own resilience reduces panic. When clients visualize their ability to weather downturns—seeing that even a sizable downturn in the market doesn’t derail their retirement—it rewires their instinct to react emotionally in the future.
• Interactive planning builds buy-in. Letting clients toggle variables themselves—retirement age, spending, inflation, volatility—helps transform passive recipients into active participants. This hands-on engagement, especially if occurring in a client portal where the experience can be shared, leads to stronger commitment and fewer mid-crisis doubts.
• Visuals aid recall in high-stress moments. During a volatile market or personal financial scare, clients may forget what was said—but they remember what they saw. A clear image of their plan holding steady can be more persuasive than any verbal reassurance.

3. Teach Clients to Understand Their Behavior

Even the best plan will struggle if clients abandon it in a panic. Emotional reactions—fear, overconfidence, anxiety—are natural reactions to stress, but coupled with rash decision-making can derail long-term strategies. That’s why it’s essential to help clients cultivate self-awareness throughout. Use reflection questions to uncover how they feel about risk, control, and uncertainty. When clients understand their own triggers, they’re far more likely to stay grounded during volatility or listen to your advice.

Over the course of my career, I have developed exercises to help clients become better able to handle their roadblocks. These exercises can be performed at any time and are often most effective early in the client relationship.

The Spending Value Exercise 

When clients are faced with spending challenges, due to a job loss or other circumstances, cutting spending can feel like a punishment.  The Spending Value Exercise can help clients view cuts in a more positive light.

The exercise encourages clients to identify the value they get from certain expenses and explore alternative, less expensive ways to achieve the same experience. I developed this exercise after struggling to help a client who was unable to let go of an expensive country club membership when doing so would help her relax about her finances. The key reason this exercise works so well is that it reframes clients’ perspectives and helps them understand the personal value of their experiences.

I use a worksheet I’ve created to make the exercises collaborative or individual. It works like this:

1. On the left side of the columns, the client lists their desired item or activity. It could be a new boat, eating out three nights a week, or weekly spa treatments, for example.
2. The next column is for the current monetary cost of the item or experience. This column helps remind clients of exactly how much it costs.
3. The third column is for the value they receive in return for said item or experience. This is best when expressed in some emotional context. For example, for clients eating out three nights a week, it may be the reward they need for all of the hours they work.
4. The next column is saved for “new ways to get that value at a reduced cost.” This is important. I nudge clients to start seeing their desired outcomes in different ways. Perhaps instead of eating out three times per week, one could go to a movie three times a week instead, or another client may say they prefer to cut down on eating out to twice or once per week, to get that emotional reward value in return.

In challenging times, clients fear uncertainty and losing control. This Spending Values Exercise is particularly effective for clients experiencing stress during challenging times because it helps them regain a sense of agency, clarity, and control. It interrupts fear-based decision-making by grounding spending in personal values, not fear.

Instead of asking “What should I cut?”, clients explore “What spending aligns with who I am and what matters most?” This reframe promotes intentionality over deprivation. It also activates intrinsic motivation, shown to improve financial satisfaction and reduce regret. Ultimately, it reconnects clients with purpose—a psychological anchor that steadies them through external turbulence.

The Confidence Worksheet Exercise 

The exercise is based on this premise: To enjoy the present, it is important to feel confident in your future. The exercise asks clients:

• “What do I need to have in my future so I can enjoy the present?”

Giving clients The Confidence Worksheet when we begin working together tells us what their focus for planning needs to be about.

When markets are volatile or life feels uncertain, clients often shift into reactive mode—focusing on short-term threats instead of long-term purpose. This worksheet redirects that energy.

By encouraging clients to write down their answers, the exercise externalizes their hopes and fears. It creates space for honest introspection, which can surface hidden concerns or unmet goals that might otherwise drive irrational behavior. It also gives the advisor deeper insight into what truly matters to the client—beyond dollars and dates.

Used regularly, the worksheet becomes a grounding tool. In moments of fear or doubt, it reminds clients that their plan is built around what they need to feel peace today—and that it’s designed to deliver that. It bridges mindset and money, creating calm in the chaos.

Helping clients learn more about themselves and their attitudes toward money is a huge first step in developing better long-term outcomes.

Learn more about helping clients with decision-making in difficult times in our blog post: How to Help Clients with Decision-making During Stressful Times.

DISCLAIMER: The eMoney Advisor Blog is meant as an educational and informative resource for financial professionals and individuals alike. It is not meant to be, and should not be taken as financial, legal, tax or other professional advice. Those seeking professional advice may do so by consulting with a professional advisor. eMoney Advisor will not be liable for any actions you may take based on the content of this blog.

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