The ClientWise Blog

“You're short on ears and long on mouth.”…John Wayne

A very Duke-like quote on listening, as spoken by John Wayne as Big Jake. Big Jake wasn’t one of the Duke’s best efforts, although it did give Wayne a chance to act with one of his sons. [The Searchers is often regarded as Wayne’s best film, although he brought home an Oscar with True Grit.]

Listening is a foundational skill for successful financial advisors. One of the interesting things about listening is that it is not a passive activity. Great listening requires intention and focus. For those of you who are interested in upgrading your listening prowess, we share the following five helpful books:

Each quarter, Russell Market Research compiles the Financial Professional Outlook, the collected opinions of financial advisors from national, regional, and independent advisory firms on topics of market sentiment, advisor/investor conversations, and investor behavior.

It’s interesting and instructive to review the five most popular blog posts that ClientWise published in 2012. Reflecting a financial advisor community with a broad skill set, the most widely viewed posts parallel this panorama of interests.

Read any good books lately?

No doubt you’ve heard the Instagram fairy tale.

How does a financial advisor stand out from the crowd?

As a techie, I'm often asked what apps I find the most useful and frequently quiz others to find out their favorites. I'm not a big gamer and swore I'd never whirl an angry bird. Wrong. My son thought it might come in handy on my business trip to Australia and he was right.  

There’s a risk in inferring the Lessons of Life from the Lessons of Sports… yet the victory of the Dallas Mavericks over the Miami Heat offers too many opportunities to ignore.