Q. With ongoing cost-of-living pressures and uncertainty around interest rates, I’m noticing more clients becoming anxious about their finances. The challenge is that I’m feeling the pressure too, both personally and professionally. How can I help clients manage their financial anxiety without allowing their stress to compound my own?
Money stress can be incredibly unsettling, and as a broker, when you’re managing your own financial pressures, it’s not always easy to stay calm and objective for your clients.
But here’s where you can make a difference.
Our brains are brilliant at jumping straight to worst-case scenarios. We start worrying about what might happen, rather than dealing with what’s happening. And before we know it, we’re responding to a future that hasn’t even arrived.
So, when a client is worried about repayments, interest rates, or their financial future, bring the conversation back to the here and now.
Ask: What do we actually know to be true? What can we control or influence? And what’s our next best step?
These questions shift the conversation away from catastrophic thinking and towards practical options, reminding clients that even when they can’t control the market, they still have choices.
Consider the difference between being empathetic and taking emotional responsibility.
You can acknowledge a client’s financial worries and guide them through their options without absorbing their stress or feeling responsible for fixing everything.
And remember, the same approach applies to your own financial anxiety.
You don’t need to eliminate someone’s uncertainty to help them feel more secure. Sometimes, helping them understand their options and identify their next best step is enough.
If you have a question that you’d like answered by psychotherapist Bronwyn Penhaligon in the Your Health in Mind section of The Adviser, you can email your question in confidence to [email protected].
Or if you feel you need more support, you can visit penhaligons.com.au to schedule a one-on-one appointment.
