May 24, 2011
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Our clients expect – and appreciate – the planning services we as advisors provide. But in those rare instances when emotion, fear and stress combine to cloud a client’s judgment, we have the opportunity to truly make a difference in their lives.
A recent story on NBC's Today Show illustrated the importance of the rational and reasoned logic an advisor can offer.
An emergency helicopter physician from University Hospital in Cincinnati was sent to help a cyclist who had been struck by a car.
When the flight team arrived, they discovered the cyclist had sustained critical head injuries. And something else: The injured cyclist was the physician's wife. After the initial shock, the flight nurse radioed for another crew to fly in and take over, since a physician is not allowed to treat his spouse.
The physician described his anguish. He arrived on scene as a physician treating a patient. As soon as he saw his wife, he was no longer a physician. He was a panic-stricken, distraught husband. He said his judgment and thinking were clouded because he was worried his wife was dying in front of him.
"In that state you're more prone to errors and given the real possibility that my wife could have died in the helicopter on the way back, I would have been a liability to try to continue caring for her."
The second air ambulance team arrived and took the doctor’s wife back to the hospital. She was in a coma for a week but survived. Five months later, she rehabs at the gym seven days a week, exceeding her doctors' expectations, and the nightmare is almost behind them.
This emotional story resonated with me. I saw striking similarities between the physician's panicked state of mind and the mindsets of my clients when a crisis has hit the markets or their personal lives.
I met with a prospective client during the frightening days of December 2008, following the market's precipitous drop in October and November. He was 62 years old, 6 months from retirement, and frantic having lost 65% of what was originally a million dollar stock portfolio. Like the physician, he was panicked and distraught.
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