Does your wealth management plan have a strong attack, defence and reserves bench?
I have always believed that there is an amazing similarity between coaching the game of rugby and managing wealth for the families that we serve. Both demand an incredible amount of preparation, strategy, proactive thinking and the ability to ‘play what’s in front on you’ making the necessary adjustments on the move.
In preparation for an upcoming game, the head coach puts together a specific tactical game plan for all his players and staff. If necessary, additional action steps are communicated, should appropriate changes need to be made during the game.
In the financial world, advisors develop personalised game plans, where they give advice in a common language, so that families can live out their hopes and dreams. Let’s look at how important the integration of attack, defence and a good bench are to both a rugby team and a family seeking financial security.
Great defences work very hard to make an opponent’s attack one dimensional, meaning they take away either the run or the pass. Most importantly they stick with their initial game plan, they trust their team-mates and defensive reads, and they tackle hard on every phase.
In the financial world, when evaluating a family’s overall financial situation, we manage risk and work to prevent something bad from happening to us.
We work to not give up the big play, an unfortunate event that could derail a family’s retirement plan. This is accomplished through education, planning and the use of our risk survey and the right asset allocation.
Defence is important, but attack sells tickets. On attack, we want to have a balanced approach, with the ability to run the ball and spread it wide and kick the ball effectively. We use different formations, moves and players to accomplish this.
In the financial world, we accomplish this through our “bucket strategy,” which consists of now, soon and later buckets. This way we can diversify a family’s portfolio depending on their needs, time frame and risk tolerance based on what the markets – or defence – are giving us. A tactical approach allows our players and families to remain calm during difficult times on the field and in their portfolios.
Finally, the extremely important area of a good bench. Turn on any rugby game, at any level, and I promise there will be a moment when a reserve comes on (think Beaudy RWC 2015) and makes a huge impact on the outcome of the game.
With families that we work with, the ability to have a team of professionals – our version of a good bench – is critical to our overall success. Access to accountants, lawyers, valuers, mortgage brokers, insurance advisers is a game-changer for me and the people we serve.
It allows me as a wealth adviser to put the appropriate players on the pitch at the right time, providing our families the opportunity to worry less and enjoy life more.
