I occasionally run into prospects that are holding totally the wrong investments, but somehow are locked into inaction and can't make a change, even if they know it is the right thing to do
Excerpt from the book 52 Stories for 52 Weeks published by the Insurance Journal, by Marc Lamontagne, CFP, RFP, FMA, CSA, advisor in Ottawa
December 2009
Here is a good example: I often work with Nortel Networks employees and one of them came to see me in early 2000s while Nortel stock was on its way down, but hadn't hit the floor yet. He was 55, had a small company pension (even smaller now), and only about $200,000 in RRSP. Here is the rub, the $200K was all in Nortel stock! So after discussing his needs, we concluded that he needed a financial plan (he agreed) and that he badly needed to diversify his portfolio (again he agreed). Then I said he would have to sell most his Nortel stock to achieve his goal of having a diversified portfolio. He understood that but just couldn't agree to that course of action; he would not agree to sell. Why not? After talking awhile longer it came out that he did not see his portfolio as being worth $200K, he thought it was worth $2 million (the value at the height of the dot.com boom) and that his portfolio was only "temporally" down. So how do I convince a man who is wearing blinders and protect him from his own mistakes?
Full text: Would you hire me if I recommended that?
