Markets are unpredictable, and uncertainty is a constant. The volatility catalyst of the day might be anything from macroeconomic concerns, geopolitical upheavals, or some novel exogenous shock that stirs up stocks, bonds, and everything else. As you know, rarely is there anything truly “new,” but to clients, “this time” always feels different. Investors — your clients — will continually face moments that test their mettle and discipline to stick with a financial plan. The “scary markets conversation,” as Michael Kitces dubs it, must be had.

In such times, the advisor’s role is not merely to provide answers; it’s also to guide clients through their emotions and keep them grounded in their long-term goals. We’ve all seen the data proving that successful investors don’t avoid volatility but navigate it with a clear process. That’s where effective communication becomes essential. Clients don’t just need facts; they need to feel heard, understood, and reassured. Without that foundation, even the best financial advice may go unheeded.

Orion’s five-step framework — Empathize, Normalize, Purpose, Proof, and Process — is designed to help advisors connect with their clients, provide clarity, drive appropriate action, and encourage a do-nothing approach when warranted. Rooted in behavioral science, it ensures that discussions address market concerns and strengthen client relationships. By following this approach, advisors can turn uncertainty into an opportunity to reinforce trust and long-term commitment.

Let’s dive in.

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1. Empathy:
Connect First, Advise Later

In crises, clients need reassurance, not lectures — think comfort, not correction. The data, facts, and math will come later, but empathizing is the first step toward any meaningful conversation. As author and researcher Brené Brown explains, empathy is “feeling with people” — not a passing acknowledgment of duress.1 In practice, this means actively listening: Aim for a client-centric conversation where they speak 75% of the time, while you guide the remaining 25%. Studies show that individuals perceive interactions as more meaningful when they feel heard and understood.

Be sure to use phrases like, “What I hear you saying is...” to echo their concerns back at them. For instance, if a client says, “All this terrible news is going to crash the market. My portfolio won’t recover,” you might respond, “What I hear you saying is you’re concerned about the long-term impact of this downturn on your goals.” It’s a simple statement, but it validates their emotions and meets them where they are, rather than reciting the usual chorus lines like “Don’t worry, markets will come back.” 

These discussions should prioritize depth over speed and curiosity over judgment. Few areas of life are as visceral as money, and people demand more than platitudes and superficial reassurances. Empathetic solutions are not found on a spreadsheet — they’re identified only after understanding the emotional undercurrents driving client behavior.

2. Normalization
Make the Uncertainty Manageable

Advisors often fall into the trap of assuming that normalizing a client's behavior means endorsing it, but that’s not the case. Normalization is about helping clients feel understood, not necessarily encouraging them to continue an unwise behavior — step two ties right into that reality. Once you’ve empathized, normalize their feelings (don’t try to thwart them). The main point is that no one’s money story is irrational when put in full context.

Market volatility — whether induced by recession fears, inflation, or politics (the list goes on) — can make clients feel isolated and powerless. Their reactions are common, so reassure them that anxiety can arise amid uncertain times. Don’t proactively point out that they should be nervous, but if they describe their uneasiness, say something along the lines of, “Market drops like this often bring up these concerns for many investors.” This validates their emotions and positions you as the steady hand who has seen this before. There's an added behavioral benefit: People find comfort in knowing their reactions are shared by others, so reframing an isolating experience as a common one can help clients feel more at ease.

Also, repress the instinct to "correct" a client’s fears too quickly. Studies show that presenting facts before someone feels understood can actually strengthen their resistance — a phenomenon called the Backfire Effect. It’s not about their stance being right or wrong but how those views impact investment impulses. Your objective should be to hear out concerns, not immediately attempt to quell them.
 

3. Purpose
Realign with Client Goals

Step three pivots the conversation to a client’s “why.” After acknowledging their emotions, gently shift the discussion toward their goals and away from short-term noise. Ask open-ended questions like, “How does today’s volatility impact you retiring in 10 years?” or “How are your plans for funding your kids’ college education affected by what’s happening in markets today?”

This exercise (after you have addressed their emotions) anchors the discussion to their purpose and helps people see beyond any immediate market turbulence. Purpose and meaning are so critical because they guide each of us to endure life’s greatest challenges. Is a 20% bear market a life-and-death situation? No, but money matters. Thus, you matter to your clients.

According to a 2020 study, healthcare workers who viewed their profession as a calling (deeply meaningful) maintained better functioning and lower levels of psychopathology compared to those who saw it merely as a job.2 The experiment demonstrated that a deep sense of purpose inspires the courage to endure — that goes for nurses working under duress and investors holding fast to a portfolio through volatility.

This step also helps you tailor your advice. If you’re sitting down with a retired couple concerned about capital preservation, your approach will differ from a Zoom call with a young investor with an aggressive growth portfolio mandate. Realigning fears to client goals ensures the conversation remains relevant and grounded in what matters most to them.

A practical behavioral action is to encourage clients to name their accounts (e.g., “Bobby’s College Fund” vs. “Account #3478”). Research shows that naming accounts based on goals helps clients stay invested during downturns by creating a stronger emotional connection to their long-term goals and money values.

4. Proof
Grounding in Facts

People make decisions emotionally first and justify them rationally later. Advisors often get this backward, responding to client anxiety with a flurry of charts and data. While facts may be compelling, their effectiveness depends on timing — proof resonates only after emotional trust and understanding have been established.

So, once clients feel heard and are realigned with their purpose, only then should you introduce data to reinforce the plan. Clients need assurance that their portfolio can weather the current storm — specific facts and figures provide that clarity, but be careful not to overwhelm them. You should have a handful of market facts you know cold, such as how corrections of 10% occur roughly once a year or that historical returns are about the same regardless of which political party is in power.

The key is to present the proof in a way that resonates with their emotions; it’s not a lecture but supporting evidence. Calling on facts is a late-stage conversational tactic because no one cares how much you know until they feel how much you care. Once feelings are addressed, you can use facts (like those listed below) to your and the client’s advantage.

Over the past century-plus, stocks have endured (sometimes thrived in) periods of inflation, deflation, war, depression, presidential impeachments, global financial crises, and so much more. Here are some of Orion's “greatest hits” you can lean on:

  • Historical Perspectives: Since World War II, 48 stock market corrections of -10% have occurred, with an average intra-year drop of 14.7%. Yet, only 12 resulted in a bear market of -20% or worse, and stocks have historically recovered and gone on to new highs.
    • Sixteen times since 1980, the S&P 500 has fallen 10% but did not move into a bear market; those years finished up 9.5% on average, in line with typical gains of any year, according to Ryan Detrick.3
  • Long-Term Trends: “The average bull market lasts 8.3 years, while the average bear market lasts just 1.1 years. Downturns, while painful, are typically short-lived and even healthy resets.”
  • Advisor Value-Adds: “Data show that investors teaming with an advisor have on average 2.97 times the wealth of those without one.” This last one isn’t meant to glorify you but to prove that going at financial planning together is absolutely worth it — and that extends beyond an asset allocation.

When presenting facts, tie them back to the client’s purpose. For example, “Given your goal of retiring in 15 years, history suggests we have time on our side to ride out this volatility.”

5. Process
Clarify and Simplify

The final step tees up the client to act. In physics and human behavior, an object at rest will stay at rest until there’s something impactful. To make the conversation resonate, break down your advice into small, actionable steps that inspire change or prevent harmful decisions.

Adopting James Clear’s “Two-Minute Rule” from Atomic Habits can work well: If a goal seems daunting, break it into an action so small it’s impossible to fail. Instead of drowning clients with a massive financial to-do list, guide them toward a manageable next step. After all, you can’t run a marathon until you’re able to jog a mile, and beginning with a 10-minute walk might get the whole process going. 

The biggest enemy of behavioral change is complex and overly ambitious applications — a small step might be reviewing just one part of the client’s portfolio in a meeting. Another initial action could be to set up automatic contributions to ensure a systematic approach is in place to continue buying even when volatility spikes. 

Once this step is completed, you can tackle more complex or emotionally intensive issues. It’s all about getting the ball rolling, and simplified processes inspire confidence and action, rather than hesitation. 

Putting It All Together

You’ve built a business and earned your clients’ trust. Augmenting what you already do with straightforward language puts the five steps together. Here’s a conversational guide:

Empathy: “What I hear you saying is...”

Normalization: “Which makes sense because...”

Purpose: “How does that impact your goal of...”

Proof: “To ensure that you reach (goal), I think we should consider (research)”

Process: “I know this can be a lot, so let’s get the ball rolling by (2-minute goal)”

Finally, closing client conversations with empathy is more important than you might realize. Studies show that the first and last moments of a meeting are the most memorable (thanks to the primacy and recency effect). Begin and end with empathy — thank them for their time, reinforce their purpose, and outline the first step.

Practical Application Tips

  • Integrate these steps to improve client meetings, particularly when market volatility is high and uncertainty is the word of the day.
  • Develop and rehearse empathetic language ahead of client engagements.
  • Find what words and phrases suit your style and what resonates with your clients.
  • Build a list of impactful data points or even a library of research notes for reference — chances are you’ll hear similar concerns when clients reach out, so having those go-to resources will showcase expertise when nervous clients call.
  • Connect client worries to their broader financial goals to appropriately frame market volatility.

The Bottom Line

Market volatility is an opportunity to strengthen client trust. By following this five-step framework — empathize, normalize, define purpose, present proof, and outline the process — advisors can guide clients through challenging times with clarity and confidence. Each step builds on the last, creating deeper, more meaningful conversations that influence behavior. In the end, behavior is the most powerful force in wealth creation — the decisions clients make today will shape their financial future for generations to come.

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SOURCES

1 https://www.shalanicely.com/aha-moments/aha-moments-from-brene-brown-on-empathy/

2 Echeverria I, Peraire M, Haro G, Mora R, Camacho I, Almodóvar I, Mañes V, Zaera I, Benito A. "Healthcare Kamikazes" during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Purpose in Life and Moral Courage as Mediators of Psychopathology. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 6;18(14):7235. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18147235. PMID: 34299681; PMCID: PMC8306054.

3 https://x.com/RyanDetrick/status/1900186585699676174, https://x.com/RyanDetrick/status/1900387262732374308

 

DISCLOSURES

The S&P 500 Index is an unmanaged composite of 500-large capitalization companies. This index is widely used by professional investors as a performance benchmark for large-cap stocks. An index is an unmanaged group of stocks considered to be representative of different segments of the stock market in general. You cannot invest directly in an index.