The Post-COVID Roaring 20's & What it Means for Financial Advisors

Lessons learned from the Spanish Flu can help advisors work with their clients' post-COVID emotions. This will better enable advisors to have happy and loyal clients, and to have thriving advisory businesses.

COVID-19 More Emotional than Spanish Flu - One hundred years ago the Spanish Flu killed 675,000 people in the United States (about 0.7% of the total population). Right now 514,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19. Assuming the same 675,000 total Pandemic deaths that happened with the Spanish Flu, COVID-19 will claim 0.2% of the population in the United States. But one can argue that this Pandemic has had much more of a negative emotional impact on Americans for the following reasons: 1. Mass media and social media didn't exist in 1918, saving emotions from being stoked 24/7; 2. The Spanish Flue wasn't politicized in as divided a nation that currently exists; 3. During 1918 most cities had some form of social distancing and quarantines for sick patients, but businesses continued to operate (some cities with alternating work hours); 4. During 1918 most people lived in rural communities and social distancing had less impact on their lives and livelihoods; and 5. In 1918 people's expectations of their quality of life - including their expected happiness - and their life expectancy were much lower than they are today.

Roaring 20's, A Reaction to Pandemic Restrictions & Emotions - Yale professor and social epidemiologist, Dr Nicholas Christakis wrote a book that provides insight in the emotions of our upcoming post Pandemic world, "Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live". During the Pandemic there have been increases in religiosity, people becoming more abstentious and saving money, and people being more risk averse. And despite zoom and other online face-to-face interaction, most people feel more isolated and anxious than a year ago, especially for the young and elderly. According to the KFF Health Tracking Poll from July 2020, about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder (versus one in ten adults for the same time period in 2019). It goes without saying that such a dramatic decline in emotional and social well being will cause a significant reaction in emotions and activities once the COVID-19 Pandemic has the "all clear" sign.

Being Careful with Comparing Past Roaring 20's with Today's - Of course there are many different factors which led to the Roaring 20's of a hundred years ago versus our upcoming one. The last one had World War I (The Great War), with its economic, physical, and emotional toll. It also evolved from a more repressive society to one with a more devil may care extreme, along with a change and increase in consumerism and free time. But the same human nature of wanting to bounce back from a pandemic with a vengeance will cause us to have our own form of the Roaring 20's, with it conveniently taking place during the 20's. Remember the five reasons noted above that COVID-19 will have a stronger emotional toll than found with the Spanish Flu.

What Our "Roaring 20's" Clients Will Look Like - We don't need to make another cold call or buy leads again if we anticipate what our "roaring 20's" clients will want and to help them with those needs. 1. We should expect our clients to want a healthier work/life balance. They will be open to ideas to help them work more efficiently and scheduling personal/family time in their weekly work plans. We even can have group breakfast talks about this topic (great for referrals).

2. Our clients will go on an obsessive socializing tear. Those phone and zoom meetings with them, or just boring office visits won't cut it anymore for them. Think experience, experience, experience.

3. Speaking of experience, our clients will be more focused on travel, more 3-day weekend excursions, and other activities over new possessions. We should have multiple fun client appreciation and socializing activities throughout the year (great at generating referrals).

4. Our "sandwiched" clients will make sure their kids won't be scarred for life with their isolation and the fear of the pandemic, while trying to help their parents better enjoy their final years. We can bring in experts to share ideas for their children and parents, while socializing and having fun (and generating referrals).

5. Many of our clients will want to have more of a connection with their community, to have a greater feeling of fulfillment. We can organize "done in a day" and other activities for the benefit of the community (great for getting referrals). We also can set up ongoing round table chats for our professional and business clients to share ideas and to network (yes, great for referrals).

A Book on this "Happiness" Topic - My Happy Client, Happy Advisor book is being wrapped up, and it covers the types of "intangibles behind success" covered in this article (and a whole lot more). Email me at mike.s@fanresources.com so I can let you know the moment this book is available.