It’s important to distinguish between high-maintenance clients (who need a lot of hand holding) and problem ones (who want the impossible).
Sure, investment returns grab the headlines, but fees fatten the top and bottom line, which makes expansion into other services tempting.
Wall Street’s shedding jobs, so why not start your own business. You may be an investment guru but are you a general manager?
Professionals, like doctors and lawyers and anyone else who might be sued, should work with an adviser to keep creditors from cleaning them out if they lose in court
Many people get into real estate as a hobby or for a little extra income, but what happens when a part-time pursuit becomes a full-fledged business.
With financial advisers moving from one firm to another more frequently than in the past, chances are you'll have an opportunity to review your needs.
The way to foster long-term relationships is to admit that we cannot know what the markets will do, says Mark Hebner, president of Index Fund Advisors.
There are really no problem clients so much as there are clients in problematic situations, says adviser Dan Mathews of Stepp and Rothwell.
For financial advice, take the focus off the factors we can't control and move it to the things we can. It requires robust communication and periodic reassessment, according to Marilyn Capelli Dimitroff of Capelli Financial Services.
Consumers would do well to follow these financial survival skills, according to Eleanor Blayney, consumer advocate for the CFP Board.