Navigating your client’s changing mindset

As our lives evolve so do our priorities around thinking about longer-term goals. Key milestones will affect the way in which our time, money, and thinking around the long term are dealt with.

Understanding how these changing mindsets will affect clients and what advisers can do to help their conversations could be a helpful insight for advisers.  We spoke to people from across the UK and uncovered some of the ways their mindsets have been changed over the years and how their loved ones affected this. 

The psychology behind this

A change in mindset creates a complete shift and therefore a change in how we think about everything.  

Changes in life goals may be caused by stressful life events. In this instance having flexible goals can protect against negative feelings and can promote positive associations. The perceived flexibility can act as a buffer between stress and negative outcomes and has a positive impact on engagement.

"Psychological flexibility is a fundamental aspect of health"

The opportunity for advisers

As we saw, people’s changing mindsets can be affected by actions their parents did for them in the past by seeing the benefits later in their life. Whilst others are at a crossroads where their changing circumstances mean they need to switch their mindsets from gain to maintain, to ready themselves to be able to support their younger and older generations.  

Thinking about long-term goals can be difficult for clients to process when it’s human nature to apply their current circumstances of things like finances and health to their future without thinking it will alter.

So, how do advisers support their clients through this and reach open and honest conversations that could help their clients think and plan for their long-term goals?

Understanding what part of your client’s attitudes is likely to stay stable throughout your their lives and how changing influences affect this could aid you as their adviser to adapt to proactive conversations.  

Read our latest article with experts discussing the changing mindsets and practical tips on how to adapt conversations for better engagement, including:

• The way we view risk and how our life experiences affect this
• How present bias affects us
• Effective conversations
• Milestones in long-term thinking

Next steps