Should Advisors Talk Politics With Clients?

Dear Financial Advisor,

“These are the times that try men’s souls,” to quote Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “The American Crisis,” published on December 19, 1776. History really does repeat itself, and if you are a student of it, you will see many quotes, warnings and references that could apply to things that are happening today.

I truly believe this is a personal issue that must be answered on a case-by-case basis. I don’t know your relationship with your clients, I don’t know how meaningful it would be to you to have a voice right now, and I don’t know whether you might damage relationships beyond repair by saying something.

Perhaps your clients would like to hear from you. Perhaps they wonder what your point of view is right now. Without knowing more about you and your clients — and even your firm’s perspective on talking politics — I am going to say you need to trust your gut. If you have previously felt it best to refrain from bringing up politics, consider why you believed that.

If it has worked for you before, why change it now? Conversely, if you feel you should throw past perspectives to the side and take a different approach, challenge yourself. Why is this important to you right now? Have a conversation with yourself much like you would with a friend to determine what course of action is best for you.

I will close by saying if someone has deeply entrenched views — either to the right or to the left — they are not likely to change their minds because they listened to you. You could definitely offer some education here by talking about the long-term impacts of this war on oil prices, the stock market, etc. You would be able to demonstrate your knowledge without adding your personal commentary this way. Clients likely do want to know what you think, but everyone is self-oriented; they really want to know what your insights mean for their plans and their portfolio. Straying away from this to offer your POV is unlikely to gain you much.

However, I respect your passion, and if you truly feel and think you are being disingenuous, by all means start talking! Maybe test the waters with a couple of clients to see what kind of a response you get and go from there.

Dear Bev,

We are about to have our quarterly webinar with clients, where we update them on markets and trends. Right now, oil is a question mark, mortgage rates have shot up, and the economic outlook for some of our clients is not so good. We serve a number of restaurant owners, a difficult market to work with in any climate, and they are feeling the pinch quite a bit.

The question is whether we share all of the negative news or we take a different approach this quarter and talk about something else. One of my partners is a Roth expert, another works with an expert in long-term disability, and another has a great perspective on which states are currently the best for owning rental properties.

Should we punt and talk about those other topics? Or is this avoiding what’s currently on our clients’ minds? Should we really hit all those negative developments head on?

O.C.

Dear O.C.,

I was considering giving you the pass to address something else until I got to your last sentence in the email to me, which indicated the things that are “currently on clients’ minds.” If your clients are coming to this quarterly event expecting you to address what’s happening in the markets and what it means, I think it is best you focus on this topic area.

I like the ideas your team has generated, and if there wasn’t an expectation already set, I would say giving information on Roth accounts, long-term disability and real estate could be very valuable. However, you should take your usual approach that clients have come to expect. Otherwise, to my mind, it would look like you were hiding something or unwilling to tackle unpopular topics.

This doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea to provide these topics to clients! Ask them if, for future webinars, they might like to learn more about them. In fact, you could open or close the upcoming webinar with this discussion and gauge the appetite to be more out-of-the-box next time. By doing this, it would also allow you to change up expectations for clients for these discussions. If clients agree it is helpful and useful to learn about other products or trends, then it wouldn’t seem so odd in the future to do something other than a market commentary.

For this one, I think you have to bite the proverbial bullet and talk about the tough stuff. It’s real, and it could be impacting your clients, especially the restaurateurs who are feeling the economic pain. Showing historical trends can be beneficial.

The market has been holding up with double-digit returns in 2025 and strong predictions for 2026. We are entering some uncharted waters right now, so it could be okay to talk about potential downswings and how these have rebounded in the past.

You certainly don’t want to be entirely negative, but being realistic and talking about potential ups and downs could make your clients feel like you understand the dynamics and are not unaware. AI is bolstering the market, but no one really knows what the impact of this will be on jobs and business either. Saying you don’t really know is okay, but showing clients you are watching and staying prepared is paramount. Don’t hide. Instead, put it all out there and let clients ask questions and learn from you.

Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry, in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. The firm has won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching Executive MBA students Leadership and Managing Teams. She is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).

She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.

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