What a pollster can teach financial planners

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What can financial planners learn from a pollster in a year of elections? Abacus Data chief executive officer David Coletto makes the case that the anxieties voters around the world have expressed by ousting incumbents are part of the “scarcity mindset” consumers share.

Speaking at FP Canada’s annual conference, which was held virtually this week, Mr. Coletto said inflation has led to widespread anxiety that crosses age and class lines.

“What we’re experiencing right now in Canada and around the world, frankly, is a period in which a lot of people are experiencing an immense amount of change and aren’t quite sure what to make of it,” Mr. Coletto said.

For financial planners, that creates an opportunity to provide some certainty to clients who are feeling anxious for several reasons.

Mr. Coletto asks survey participants regularly what keeps them up at night. The answers form a word cloud of financial anxiety, with the cost of living, inflation and housing crowding out other concerns.

“You know this because you’re interacting with your clients on a day-to-day basis,” he said to the financial planners in attendance. “That financial insecurity … is just seeping out of them and it has defined so much of how they’re thinking.”

And while those worried about making rent or mortgage payments are most vulnerable, the anxiety crosses class lines, he says.

“I see it also in those who have more privilege and wealth, who are having to trade down on things that they thought they’d be able to afford,” he says.

At the airport recently, he overheard a mother talking about how she couldn’t afford to get her kids Canada Goose jackets this year.

“As ridiculous as that might sound, the psychological effect … is the same regardless of your income … in that sense of anxiety that this creates,” Mr. Coletto said.

The effects of inflation have been devastating to incumbent governments across the world this year, and he expects this to continue whenever Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals face voters. Mr. Coletto’s data showed the prime minister as personally unpopular and his party massively behind Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.

But the pollster also showed responses to less conventional questions that get at what Canadians want from a leader in this economic environment. When asked who would be better at hosting a party, Mr. Trudeau led by 17 points. When it came to sitting beside one of the leaders on an airplane, respondents were split. But Mr. Poilievre was way ahead when it came to putting up a shelf, solving an escape room or putting out a kitchen fire.

“Most Canadians believe the kitchen is on fire, and they are looking for someone to put it out,” Mr. Coletto said.

Which brings us to the role of advisors. There’s no shortage of fires, real and perceived (see: Canada Goose jacket). Clients want advisors who can alleviate some of their anxiety.

That means providing useful, accurate information at a time when people are more and more skeptical of facts and expertise. Trust is harder to earn but also more important than ever, Mr. Coletto said.

Things are unlikely to get easier for clients. With cuts to immigration, Canada won’t be able to rely on a growing population to drive the economy. The next government is likely to cut public spending and public sector jobs.

That means it’s more important than ever to understand what’s going on in clients’ lives and be an empathetic voice, he said, offering a sense of security in planning for the future.

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