The math doesn't lie. The math has no political affiliation.

Most people are very curious about what's going on with the economy right now, how it's going to affect them in the short term, in the long term. Very common conversation. I think the depth of the conversation changes depending on the education and the knowledge, and the desire of knowledge with the client. You can overeducate some clients, and they don't want to know about it. They're just like, “What do you think I should be doing?” Or “Here's what I want, I want you to do this.”

So, I think all in all, we try to focus on balance. One thing I've learned about economics is none of us really know what's going to happen. I follow experts on both sides of the scale. Some of us think we're getting ready to hit another bull market, and some of us think we're getting ready to have a deep recession.

That's the consistency I see, is there's always a widespread range of expertise on both sides. So how do we stay in the middle, and how do we position you to win in all markets and be positioned to win, whether the markets go up or whether the markets go down? How do we build that? So, I like to communicate, “Hey, here is what is going on. These are some things we can do to strategize to get you balanced and prepare you, so no matter what happens, you're going to win.”

When it comes to educating clients on economics, and how we can serve them and improve their situation based off what's currently going on, there's a process, but it's not a formal process. It starts with, one, we need to get to know you. We need to get your information, proper information about you and your situation and your goals and objectives and what you're looking to do. And how can we help you? Because if we can't improve your situation, then there's really no reason for us to be doing work together. If I can't help you, I don't even want to be involved. That's my position.

So, one, we want to start there, and that's the basis of the process. Once we get to that point, it's about the objective. What are we trying to do? Are we trying to accumulate wealth for income in retirement? Are we trying to take care of your legacy, or are we trying to build an opportunity planning bucket to take advantage of future opportunities? What is it we're trying to focus on? It's less about a process.

I think when you get people that are very focused on a political side, left or right, and they want to base all their investing in their future planning based off of it, we try to eliminate as much of that as possible and focus on the four-letter word: math.

Let's just do the math, and let's just figure out what's best for you and your situation, regardless of what's going on around us or who believes what. That, to me, is a little more viable way to approach and just focus on what's best for you.

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Stay neutral, stay trusted: How to talk economy with clients

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Howard Allen Hopkinson II, FSS, FSCP