For clients feeling financially anxious, Purpose Advisor Solutions looks at why understanding can matter more than another explanation of yield
There's a version of the income conversation that most advisors know well. You walk a client through yield, explain duration, and the client nods along.
But how can you make that conversation more beneficial for the client?
To answer that question, you need to understand the problem.
Three numbers that describe the problem
- In Capintel's 2024 Investor Engagement Report, 65% of Canadian investors said they stay with their advisor because their advisor understands their personal situation. Beyond performance and product access, investors stay because they feel understood.
- Yet Advocis' 2025 Financial Literacy Month poll found that 90% of Canadians rarely or only occasionally have open conversations with their advisor. This means that the conversation that statistically keeps clients engaged is the one that happens the least.
- The same Advocis poll found that 77% of advisors say more than a quarter of their clients have expressed increased financial anxiety in the past six months.
Anxiety and disengagement look almost identical
From across a table, an anxious client and one who is disengaged look similar: checked out, giving short answers, and disengaged. But the response to anxiety vs disengagement will be different.
Disengagement is a lack of interest, and anxiety is an excess of it. The client who seems switched off in an income conversation might not be uninterested in their financial future; they might be overwhelmed by it. And the response to overwhelm isn't more information.
When a client is anxious, they don't need to understand the yield more clearly. They need to feel that the person managing their money understands what the money is for.
Instead of: "Here's what your portfolio is generating."
Try: "What does income actually mean for your life right now?"
That question does something the yield explanation can't. It signals that this conversation is about their life, not their portfolio. It creates the conditions for the kind of exchange where a client says what's on their mind, which is the only kind of conversation where real advice can happen.
The advisors navigating this well are the ones who've learned to lead with smarter questions.
This article was produced in partnership with Purpose Advisor Solutions
