You've Lost All My Money, You &^%$

Across the country, financial advisers are getting an earful from angry and fearful clients who have seen their portfolios crumble. It's getting personal, Carly Weeks reports.

CARLY WEEKS
Monday's Globe and Mail
February 23, 2009

Some people do yoga as a stress release. Others go for a long, reflective walk. Judith Cane plays the banjo.

As a financial adviser dealing with tumbling portfolios and panicky clients during the worst economic downturn in generations, she's been giving it a workout lately.

"I am playing my banjo really loudly and really hard," said Ms. Cane, president of Antara Financial Group in Ottawa. "It is really stressful."

It seems nearly impossible to have a conversation with friends or co-workers lately that doesn't revolve around the economy, musings over when the recession will end, or the pros and cons of an RRSP versus the new tax-free savings account.

But the polite veneer of water-cooler chit-chat quickly washes away when your investment adviser tells you your account has plummeted 30 per cent in the past year. Canadians who are suddenly worried about whether they can afford to retire or pay for their child's education have no qualms about telling their investment manager what's really on their minds, unloading their fears, frustrations - and even hostility - on their adviser's lap.

It's creating major stress across the industry, according to a Toronto-based adviser whose clients have resorted to angry calls and insults, while colleagues have been personally blamed for their clients' losses.

"Sometimes you don't realize how stressed you are until you can't find the right Tupperware lid and have a meltdown," said Ms. Cane, who is also on the board of Advocis, the Financial Advisors Association of Canada.

Yet she describes herself as one of the lucky ones.

"I sometimes go home and say to my husband, 'I can't believe people aren't yelling at me,' " she said. "Nobody knows what to do in this situation. Our generation has never seen it before."

The looming RRSP contribution deadline is a telling sign of the times. February is normally the busiest month for financial advisers and planners, with Canadians calling to top up their savings. This year, their phones are still ringing off the hook - but instead of calling to invest money, many clients are calling to complain.

"Honestly, I think there will be a lot of advisers who aren't in the business any more by the end of the year," Ms. Cane said.

The animosity is exacerbated by the general backlash against the financial industry as clients seek an outlet for the rage fuelled by images of Wall Street executives who engineered the subprime mortgage crisis and allegations of massive fraud orchestrated by men such as Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford.

"I would say at this point there's a sense of disillusionment," said Alan Kotai, financial adviser and portfolio manager at Rogers Group Financial in Vancouver. "I have a sense that there is an anger."

That means even those advisers who have tried to use conservative investing strategies are facing iciness from clients, even as their own savings and income start to dwindle.

"Not only are our clients' portfolios down, but our own portfolios are down, too," Ms. Cane said.
She took a full two weeks off at Christmas to get away from the anxiety that is consuming her industry, she said. Then, she took a week and a half off in January and headed to California.
"I just sat by the pool for four days because I was totally stressed out," she said. "My back was spasming. You go to the chiropractor and they say, 'Gee, are you under a lot of stress?' "

She said many of her colleagues are taking up yoga. Other advisers say regular exercise has become an extremely valuable tool helping them to keep their cool.

"I get up and walk faithfully with my dog because the dog doesn't care, right? He's just so glad to get out in the morning," said Marie Richardson, owner of Richardson Financial Consulting at Peak Securities Inc. in Kingston.

But there may be a silver lining in sight.

Before the economic turmoil began, many Canadians weren't used to seeing sustained drops in their stock portfolios and may have taken more risks with their investments as a result of an extended period of financial growth.

From now on, Ms. Cane hopes, "People will know what kind of risk they're willing to take."