PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 39

Viewpoints
Can You Predict Client Stress?
How to gauge, and assuage, that 'fight or flight' response
THE PSYCHOLOGY of financial planning is
more than behavioral finance. It's about the
interaction between you and your client. It
considers you, your client and the planning
process; outside influences; and generally,
how all of us think and feel about money.
It's also about recognizing and addressing
physiological stress-the kind that triggers
the fight-or-flight response. As advisers like
you work more with individual participants,
knowing this can help you better understand
their decisionmaking.
Raising the Temperature
We use common phrases such as " Are you
getting cold feet? " without much thought
to their origin. It turns out, cold feet are a
biological indicator of stress. When the brain
senses danger, it goes into automatic protection
mode. It sends the signal to prepare to
fight or run away, which requires extra blood
pumping through the heart. The extremities-not
just the feet, but the hands and
brain too-resultingly receive less blood.
People can trick themselves into thinking
they're less stressed than they really are,
according to the writers of " Assessing Client
Stress and Why It Matters to Financial Advisors. "
You can get a quick sense of how
stressed someone is by shaking her hand. If
hands are cold, that person is experiencing a
fight-or-flight reaction and making decisions
based on habit and emotions.
Skin temperature of 90 degrees or higher
indicates good blood flow to the extremities
and calm mental activity. Skin temperature
in the 80s indicates ambivalence and stress
piling up. Once you get below 80, the person is
in a full-on fight-or-flight response.
It's hard to know skin temperature by
touch alone without practice. This makes selfassessment
not only useful but a prerequisite
in assessing client stress.
Now What?
When you see stress in a participant or client,
call it out. If you're comfortable, engage in a
purposeful cognitive-behavior conversation
by attaching meaning to the stress. Start by
asking the client to describe what's on her
mind-i.e., determine the stressor.
As the client talks, write down her
thoughts associated with that stressor. Then,
have her rate her belief in each statement she
just made, from 0% to 100%. I find it useful to
do this exercise together by jotting the items
on a shared screen, if working virtually, or on
a whiteboard, if working in the same room.
Now, challenge the client's thoughts
by asking her to provide evidence for and
against them. This can be conversational, or
you can make a chart, outlining the person's
thoughts as she talks. Encourage the client
to consider how else she might interpret the
stressor after reviewing the evidence she
assembled.
A single conversation is unlikely to result
in clients changing their mind about a
stressor, but you might be able to move the
needle a couple of percentage points. More
importantly, you have opened the door for
fuller transparency leading to creating trust
and rapport with the client.
Change Up the Office
If the idea of engaging in a cognitive-behavior
conversation is unattractive to you, there are
more passive ways to reduce client stress.
For one, your stress is highly correlated
with client stress: When you are more
stressed-test your skin temperature!-those
around you are more stressed. Find ways to
reduce the level of stress in your life through
healthy coping strategies, talking to others or
changing your routine.
Secondly, change your office design. My
research with John Grable shows that a living
room feel is associated with lower client
stress. You don't need a table, but if you insist
on keeping one " to hold your computer, " find
something short and small like a coffee table.
Bring in as much sunlight and nature as
possible. And when meeting virtually, leave
your real background on to create a sense of
openness. -Sonya Lutter
Sonya Lutter is a certified financial planner and licensed marriage and
family therapist. She is the founder of EnLite, where she helps bridge the gap
between mental health and financial planning, and director of financial
health and wellness with Texas Tech University School of Financial Planning.
She has authored/co-authored books such as " Financial Therapy. "
" When you
see stress in
a participant
or client, call
it out. If you're
comfortable,
engage in a
purposeful
cognitivebehavior
conversation
... "
Practice Management | Fall 2023 | planadviser.com 39
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PLANADVISER - Fall 2023

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