How to Help Your Financial Planning Clients Stop Hiding

As a fiduciary and financial counselor to your clients, you probably notice times in their lives when they seem to be avoiding issues. These issues could be financial in nature or could be completely unrelated to how they handle money. In many cases, your clients won’t even know they’re hiding from something. Instead, they’ll employ a number of different distractions such as staying overly busy, getting caught up in a hobby, or spending more time than usual at the office. You can usually tell your clients are hiding if they don’t seem happy or fulfilled with what they’re filling their time with and if they avoid certain topics of discussion. Do you have clients who are hiding? Here’s how to help them.

What are They Hiding From?

The first step in helping your clients is finding out what they’re hiding from. Here are some of the most common culprits.

Financial issues Helping your clients get their financial houses in order is one of your top priorities as an advisor. However, if they won’t face reality when it comes to their finances or if they continually procrastinate doings things like creating a budget or discussing their retirement, it’s likely they’re hiding in this area. If your clients are hiding from financial issues, they’re probably feeling insecure or overwhelmed. They may think they’ve made poor choices in the past and don’t know how to correct them or they could feel that ‘everything will just work out’ if they continue to bury their head in the sand.

Relationship issues Are your clients dealing with family discord like marital issues, problems with their kids, or fights with their extended family members? Those with relationship issues will often resort to big projects or other ways to stay busy so they don’t have to deal with it. I’ve had couples on the verge of divorce who’ve decided to build a huge home together as a way of distracting themselves from their problems. If your clients are focused on doing instead of being, they might be hiding.

Self-esteem issues Those who don’t know how to fix themselves often turn to fixing other things or other people. They could be intruding in their grown kids’ lives, trying to change their partners’ behavior, or constantly complaining about things their friends or co-workers are doing. Most of the time, when we’re overly bothered by someone else’s behavior, it’s because we see it in ourselves. If your clients are hyper-focused on others, it’s likely they’re hiding from their own self-esteem issues.

How You Can Help

It might seem like a tall order to help your clients who are hiding from major problems in their lives, but you don’t have to cure them. Simply nudging them in the right direction can be a huge help and get them on a healthier path. Here are some ways to do it.

Awareness Sometimes, simply pointing out there is an issue your clients might be hiding from is all they need to begin the process of improving. Awareness can spark curiosity and you can encourage this curiosity by asking insightful questions about their situation and how they feel about it.

Help them see other perspectives It can be easy to get so caught up in your own feeling and perceptions that you forget there are two sides to every story. Try to help your clients see the situation from another perspective to show them how their hiding behavior could be affecting others.

Suggest coaching or counseling You can only do so much as a financial counselor. In some cases, it might benefit your clients who are hiding from problems to speak with a trained life coach, counselor, or therapist. You should have at least a couple of these professionals you trust in your referral network so you can give out their cards in these situations.

If you have clients who are hiding from problems in their personal or professional lives, it’s your responsibility to try to help them by bringing awareness to the situation, suggesting they look at other perspectives, or recommending additional help. Do you have a question or comment about clients who hide? Please leave it below!