62. Investing for retirement; mutual funds or VUL?

You are investing for your retirement 20 years from now, you opted for a mutual fund as vehicle, how confident are you that you would achieve your objective?

are you 60% confident? 80%? 100%?

There are 4 major global financial crisis in the last 20 years or so starting with the bursting of the dot com bubble in 2000, followed by 9/11 one year after, who can forget the US sub-prime debacle of 2007 to 2009 which led to a global crisis and saw the collapse of previously "too big to fail" financial institutions, we are now currently trying to recover from the 4th - the Covid-19 induced crisis  

This is the Market Black Box - major global negative events causing market upheavals, these may wreck havoc on our carefully planned investment portfolio especially if you are retiring in the midst of one

From a personal finance perspective, what can happen in 20 years?

and our ability to hold on to a long-term investment may diminish over time

as we get older over the next twenty years, 

the chances of us getting sick becomes higher?

Using VULs (Variable Universal Life) as vehicle for retirement funding

VULs are life insurance products with an investment component that invest in funds similar to mutual funds, it is very flexible in the sense that various "riders" can be attached to address specific risk mitigation needs like coverage for critical illnesses and others, take note however that there would be corresponding premiums to pay for the riders

You are investing for your retirement 20 years from now, you opted for a VUL as vehicle, how confident are you that you would achieve your objective?

are you 60% confident? 80%? 100%?

all the best my friends!

61. The worst thing that could happen to a financial advisor?

The most enduring lesson for financial advisors during this pandemic is to experience first hand the fact that the lack of adequate financial planning and execution may lead to financial disasters

I deeply relate to this lesson, covid-19 has took the lives of quite a number of my friends and relatives, the saddest of which are those who are "UNINSURED", bereaved families left behind not only have to mourn the passing of a loved one, but have to struggle financially to take care of final expenses in the months or even years to come...

I became a financial advisor months (August 2019) before covid struck, I went after "high value" prospects in a bid to immediately make a name for myself, it was a good "career" decision as the sales I have generated was enough to help me qualify for the MDRT in just four short months, but is making money and gaining recognition the only reward of a successful financial advisory career?

We have been taught that to work more efficiently we need to "pre-qualify" our prospects, top among these criteria is the ability of a prospect to pay for premiums? 

Prospects who can afford to pay for premiums are also most probably the ones who can afford the costs of expensive medical treatments. 

In one of my talks for PIFAAP I have advocated an advocacy ratio of 5:1 - that for every 5 prospects we advocate to; 4 are pre-qualified as "can afford" and 1 as "financially vulnerable."

Financially vulnerable prospects are those who may suffer major financial challenges when disaster strike, these are most probably the common man we meet in the streets, although they may be small and low premium paying, it may bring more meaning to our work as financial advisors if we help make one more financially secure Filipino family.

God forbid that some of these "financially vulnerable" prospects happen to be people we know, our own friends and relatives.

something to consider my friends...

#acgadvice

60. 2 key ideas to create compelling retirement funding proposals

 

One of my early mistake as a financial advisor is to assume that all people I talk to see retirement planning as an important goal, that retirement is a critical stage in their life that needs much care and preparation to make it worthwhile

I am totally wrong!

Statistically, out of ten people I approached offering help on their retirement planning,

10 said they are not interested! why is this so?

To most people, retirement is something that will happen many years into the future, to them while it is inevitable, it remains vague and creates no urgency to act immediately

As long term investment success is a function on how long we stay invested, the earlier we start, the higher would be our chance for success, but how do we create that sense of urgency?

MAKE IT REAL!

Help them visualize and measure.

Visualize - what is their expectation of a good retirement? what will they do? where will they live? do they have plans to travel? maybe some charitable work?

Measure - How much would all of these costs?

Starting with basic living expenses, here is a sample table projecting current expenses to their retirement date twenty years from now imputing the effects of inflation

As the 10.62M is future value (amount of money we need in the future), we discount it to present value (amount of money we need to invest today) 

So the question now is not whether they should start sooner or not, but how they would want to build up the 2.2M

If a client can afford to give 2.2M - single pay VUL - employ asset allocation

If a client prefers to amortize the cost (through installment) - offer regular pay products

All the best my friends!

59. When is the best time to recommend to your client to start their retirement fund?

 

What Is Market Timing?

Market timing is the act of moving investment money in or out of a financial market—or switching funds between asset classes—based on predictive methods. If investors can predict when the market will go up and down, they can make trades to turn that market move into a profit.

(https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/markettiming.asp)

One of the reason why financial advisors feel the need to time market is because of the of the  "buy low, sell high" mentality, this created an impression that catching the lows is essential to long term investment success, this is a market timing issue

From an advisory perspective this placed our credibility with the client to the test early on in our client relationship, imagine telling the client to invest now because we think the market will rise soon then proven wrong

Trading and investing are two totally different reasons when entering the market, traders are after short-term gains hence the need to time the market while investors are primarily after long-term growth

Investing for retirement is best started early, given a time horizon of at least 10 years or more, market timing issues may become irrelevant

a study was made to identify the main determinant for long-term investment success considering the volatility of the stock market, results shows that a proper asset allocation and regular re-balancing may offset most of the setbacks of market downturns

So to answer the question as to when is the best time to start investing for retirement?

The answer is TODAY for as long as proper allocation is implemented

Simplest rule of thumb would be 60/40 for goals with at least a 10-year time horizon, anything longer, a more aggressive 70/30 or even 80/20 may be suggested

all the best my friends!

First "monthsary" promotion for blog followers

 

I will be selecting two (2) followers per month to mentor, exception for the "three kings month" of January when I selected three

58. To overcome rejections, change the "FRAME" of engagement

I once heard an old timer in the industry declared

" I eat rejections for breakfast, lunch and dinner!"

 

One of the most challenging aspect at the start of a financial advisor's career is developing the ability to overcome the demoralizing effects of REJECTIONS

This is maybe because on how traditional agency management is FRAMED, top advisors are honored based on case count and size, qualifying for international recognitions is a direct function on how many products are sold

This is a sales job right? no matter what is said about dignity and honor of the profession, at the end of the day, success goes to the one who sold the most

This is the "selling frame", but what are frames?

a FRAME is the context by which we communicate, it influences what we say, why we say it and define the outcome, its the different "hats" that we wear, if we are talking to our children we are wearing our "parent" hat - conversation could be patient, informing, authoritative?

The selling frame

• you have a need 
• I have a product that solves that need
• outcome - buy from me

The case for advocacy

• Inflation destroys the value of hard-earned savings
• People are not aware that over time, this may become a serious problem
• Inflation risk cannot be totally eliminated
• It can only be minimized through proper diversification
• outcome - would you like more free information?

Advocacy is sharing valuable information freely, 

without expectation of return, 

without any expectations, 

there would be no rejections

Changing the FRAME of how we engage prospective clients from getting (a sale) to giving (information) may help a financial advisor achieve the numbers needed to make this a worthwhile profession - getting enough sales to make a living and more

there are currently a sizeable number of Filipinos who believed that "savings" alone is enough to help them achieve financial security, this may work for some but maybe not for all, they would be needing "advice" on how to do this more efficiently, a financial literacy advocacy aims to provide FREE but valuable information to help make this happen

GIVE FIRST! so you may receive..

all the best my friends!

#acgadvice

57. If interest rates starts rising? should we switch to bonds?

 

The Philippine central bank held its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 2 percent during its December meeting, saying the current monetary policy stance is appropriate to support the economy amid uncertainty over the fallout of the new Omicron coronavirus variant and as inflation expectations continue to be anchored to the target level. The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were also kept at 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Policymakers noted that the projected inflation path remains within the inflation target band of 2-4 percent over the policy horizon, despite the higher-than-anticipated inflation outturn in November, while downside risks to the economic recovery emanate from the emergence of new COVID-19 variants as well as the potential tightening of global financial conditions. 

source: Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

The world's central banks manages interest rates levels as a lever to influence the direction of the economy, it's also their primary tool in combating inflation - the financial scourge of modern times

at the onset of the pandemic when most businesses slowed down due to social restrictions, major central banks starts cutting interest rates as a way to spur economic activities, the idea here is to make borrowing expenses more affordable to provide companies with a cheaper source of funding to maintain their operations.

but there is only so much that interest rates can be lowered, nearing zero with no more room for further cuts, central banks resorted to infusing liquidity into the system through the purchase of bonds and other fixed income securities

These massive amount of liquidity may push prices higher causing inflation

The common reaction of central bankers to counter inflation is to raise interest rates, higher rates could reduced liquidity by attracting idle funds to resulting higher paying fixed income instruments

The stock market usually reacts negatively to rising inflation and interest rates, should we switched to bonds?

If your investment objective is current income from the regular coupon payments, then bonds can be a good option, as rising interest rates may cause bond prices to fall, be on a lookout for good bargains once it starts going down

how about bond funds? it follows the same principle, it may "drop first" to adjust to higher interest rates, the best entry would be when interest rates starts tapping out

for now, idle funds are best placed in short term placements that reprice higher every time you renew

all the best my friends!

#acgadvice

56. Power up your prospecting with clear and concise value proposition statements

 Consider your last major purchase decision?

why did you decided to buy? will it make your life easier? will it make you feel good? is it something that you believe adds value to you?

as financial advisors, looking at "purchase" decisions from the buyer's standpoint helps when we create our own value proposition

answering the question "why should anybody buy from us" can be a useful framework when we create our value statements

But not just anybody, but a specific market segment with specific needs, as there won't be a solution that appeals to everybody

Are you more inclined to serve simple needs as protecting saving accounts from inflation by recommending diversification ? or more inclined to serve high net worth clients with estate planning needs?

Career success as a financial advisor is mostly a "numbers" game, the promised rewards for achievement depends on how many people will eventually decide to avail of our services

our value proposition is our first touchpoint with a prospect, it helps if it is clear and concise, directed and relevant to the target market, but in order to improve our conversion from prospects to clients, value statements should be supported by skills and knowledge as to how it can be best implemented, this is where your training needs comes in

deciding which segment to market to will also our guide as to how many people we should serve to achieve, let's say MDRT business requirements 

an "inflation protection story" for savings may probably result in average case size of 100K of VUL sales, at 10% credit we might need hundreds of them to qualify

going after the "estate planning" segment may result in bigger case sizes, but it would require higher skill levels, thoughtful analysis and the ability to come up with solutions to a complex requirement

1. value proposition to your target market

2. trainings to enhance/improve skills to increase conversion

3. extensive product line (that you can mix and match for that customized fit)

4. do the numbers

5. MDRT!

a well planned career track will help you achieve your goals!

55. "we are not product peddlers!!!"

 

one of my most embarrassing moment while working with the agency force happened when we started introducing mutual funds - I had my acetates (yes, acetates ha ha ha) all ready and started to sing high praises for the superiority of funds when one of the senior leaders at the back commented in a loud voice that silenced the room - 

"WE ARE NOT PRODUCT PEDDLERS!!!"

People don't buy a product or an idea because we think they need them, they buy because they realized its value to them!

The most valuable lesson often comes from the most painful experience

We, who are in the advisory business should understand our audience first before offering any product solutions, the presentation should be designed and delivered in their context

Context being in the "what's in it for them" (WIIFT) framework

Author Jerry Weissman in his book "Presenting to Win, The Art of Telling your Story" listed down the 5 cardinal sins of poor presentations

Starting with the end in mind - what is the purpose of the presentation? is it to inform? to convince? to present a new idea? to update a market situation?

How will this new information benefit the audience? will it help them achieve their financial goals more efficiently? will it help them mitigate risk? will it allow them to take advantage of new opportunities?

Slides should be in proper order of the "story" you wanted to tell, one common mistake even for seasoned presenters is simply collecting slides from various presentations with different fonts and templates, spend care and time in preparation, this may be the first and last opportunity given to us

Be mindful of being overly technical, our audience may not have the same background as ourselves, one very useful advice I got was when preparing materials is to imagine talking to a 4-year old, this may however result in us being seen as condescending, in my personal experience, this is what I make of this advice - in terms of our materials, simplify it to a point where even a four year old will understand, but in terms of delivery - imagine you are talking to your superiors

Keep it short (40 minutes tops)

All the best my friends!

#acgadvice

54. SVUL - the VUL with principal guarantee?

 

As former head of business development for a life insurance company, one of my job function is to be involved in product development for both our main distribution channel (the agency force and Banca) and alternative distribution channels

One of the products that I am very happy to be involved in is the design, development and distribution of Structured Variable Universal Life products (SVUL)

What makes it more memorable is the opportunity to have worked with a great team - Philip and Li yen (our main investment bankers), Joh-an of marketing - to ensure we got our story right and Candy- our actuary who ensures we got the pricing right for the best benefit of our policy holders

SVUL are limited offer products, usually denominated in US dollars as the investment components are usually sourced abroad in partnership with a global investment bank

The product concept is very straightforward, it combines 3 main elements, the standard 125% life insurance cover, a structured portfolio combining the 100% maturity of a Zero Coupon Bond (this is the principal guarantee) and a call option on an equity position (this provides the upside) on the most exciting investment theme for the day

We developed and launched around 14 in such diverse themes as a China Growth Story, a play on energy, a position on Euro stocks during the PIGs crisis and a lot more, the last one that we developed but was never introduced to the market was a play on the world's top brands, I heard later that the private bank that we have develop this product for went ahead with another partner and did quite well

Some designs I saw on the market only provides 80% principal guarantee, the idea here is to allocate more to the upside component by saving on the cost of the bonds, these I  think takes away the beauty of an SVUL which is a VUL with principal guarantee

 

53. The number 1 life insurance company?

The Insurance Commission ranks Philippine Life Insurance Companies using the following 5 metrics (as posted in the IC website), Net Assets, NBAPE, Net Worth, Paid-up Capital and Total Premiums

if we use these as the sole basis for identifying the number 1 Life Insurance company in the Philippines

the number 1 is !!!! drumroll !!!!

In terms of assets: Includes real estate, buildings, etc

Philamlife (now AIA Life) is number 1

In terms of NBAPE: This is just first year premiums

Pru Life of UK is number 1

In terms of net worth 

Philamlife again in number 1

In terms of paid-up capital, 

new player East West Aegas is number 1

In terms of total premiums, renewals included

Sunlife is number 1

number 1 in two out of the five metrics! 

THE NUMBER 1 IS !!!!

https://www.insurance.gov.ph/statistics/life/

Disclaimer: This is not a paid advertisement ha ha ha

52. The role of mentors in our development as financial advisors

 

I remember an office conversation when a younger colleague who planned to take his MBA asked our opinion as to what would be a good post-graduate school to go to, initially the talk was of course influenced by personal preferences until it boiled down to two colors (?)

somebody said school A is better because a lot of high government officials graduated from there, another said school B because it has produced more millionaires among its graduates

Choosing a school for additional studies is somewhat similar to choosing a mentor, Because both would have an impact on how our career would evolve in the years to come

Color A school's faculty are mostly academicians who earned their tenure through the publications of learned articles and books, while color B's faculty are mostly corporate executives and business leaders who see teaching as a way of giving back in gratitude to what they have already accomplished in the business world

For a financial advisor, a mentor is not a pre-requisite to success, however having one may accelerate our development as financial advisors because a mentor can serve as our guide post, providing encouragement when needed and help us avoid a lot of "rookie" mistakes

There is no lack of "mentor candidates" that an advisor can choose as there is a proliferation of "experts" in our industry, there are theorist (mostly talk with little or no real world experience and accomplishment) and there are practitioners (our agency leaders are good examples), choose well and let a mentor help you fast track your career growth

51. Earn the privilege to give financial advice

One of the early lessons I learned from Boss Rex when we are introducing mutual funds to the market in the 90s is how can we be compelling (trustworthy maybe a better word?) salesmen of mutual funds when we ourselves are not invested in it. 

So in spite of the meager  salary (a ha ha) that our boss is paying us (si boss rex rin yun), most of us in the sales department started our own investment plan

It follows that insurance salesmen should also be insured themselves before they offer this to prospective clients, how can we offer something we don't believe in? 

The usual excuse of telling ourselves that we will get ourselves insured once we are able to afford it sounds very much like the excuses we get from prospective clients

In my so many years in the industry I am saddened to discover that there were even some instances when families of deceased insurance agents have to scrounge for cash to pay for final expenses, and to face difficult financial challenges going forward

To earn the privilege to give financial advice depends a lot on our "credibility"

credibility that only comes from walking the talk, when we go out there and "advocate" to people that they should save money, prepare for their financial goals, insure themselves against possible financial losses, etc, 

did we follow our own advice?

something to think about my friends..

50. Advocate your way to MDRT in 2022? why not!

The biggest challenge to MDRT aspirants is to find enough 

prospects/clients to satisfy their production requirements

Using Premiums as method of production to qualify, an aspirant needs:

1 client paying 2.2M in premiums*

10 clients paying 213K in premiums

50  clients paying 44K in premiums

*regular pay products

as most of us would not be able to have access to people capable of paying 2.2M in regular premiums, we can surely talked to people who can set aside 44k per year for their financial security, the task would just be finding at least 50 of them next year

Let us develop a plan using the following assumptions:

• to get one interested prospect we need to advocate to 5 contacts
• to get one client we need we need three interested prospect
• to get to 50 clients we need to advocate to 750 people
• as there are 52 weeks in a year, our magic number is advocating to 15 people per week

The biggest hindrance to this exercise is "call reluctance", this usually happens if we don't score a "success" after an engagement, this is where our advocacy comes to play

Advocacy starts with wanting to do good for others, as financial advisors we believe that knowing and understanding financial concepts that we are capable of "sharing" will enable others to make more informed financial decisions that could help them achieve financial independence

with an advocacy mindset - every "sharing" that we do count as one of the 750

would you like to qualify for the MDRT in 2022? would you like to earn at least a million pesos? 

share your advocacy to 750 people!

review post #44 on how to use advocacy to build your prospect base

all the best my friends!

49. The three best investment advice you can give your clients

There is no "free lunch" in investments! the returns that we are getting is simply the reward of the "investment risk" that we took, does this mean that conservative investors making careful choices have no chance of earning a decent return?

Risk is an aspect of investing that we can minimize without sacrificing most of the returns by applying the following principles:

1. Diversify - a client gave you 100,000 as initial investment for his retirement goal twenty years from now, is it a good idea to place 100% of this in an equity fund? as most charts and studies shows a long term upward bias for the stock market, the client should do well.. 

this is one of my early mistakes - having full faith that over the long term, stock prices should go up adapting the "Buy and Hold" strategy recommended by master warren b, While experience shows this happens most of the time, I discovered that markets does not go up in a straight line, but in a series of upward oscillations

for conservative investors, a 60/40 split between stocks and bonds will make the most sense

2. Time in the market - most funds (equity, bonds etc) are designed to capture long term returns, maybe the fund manager at certain times may take on some opportunistic trade, the general investment horizon of stocks in the portfolio is anchored on long term growth, it follows that money intended for day-to-day expenses should not be placed in an investment fund because of the mismatch of tenor, to maximize returns, give it time to grow

3. Review and Re-balance - Regularly! the initial 60/40 ratio will change as market conditions changed, there is a 50/50 probability that it can go up or down in the next six months, in order to keep the risk profile of the investment it is advisable to do periodic reviews (best every 6 months), this is to keep it within an acceptable risk position without giving up most of the expected return

see post #40 on how to re-balance and #8 on how to conduct a portfolio review conversation

all the best in 2022 my friends!

48. Why am I not selling as much as I want to?

 

BECAUSE THE BUYER DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SELLING?

As financial advisors, our success depends a lot on how well we can articulate the value we bring to the table, most prospective clients will say "NO" only because they do not appreciate how our financial advice and solutions may be of value to them in their quest for financial security

just like a carpenter (I used a carpenter as an analogy because its Christmas ! ha ha ha) starting a new job, he makes sure that all the tools and materials he needs are in place before he starts

Similarly, a financial advisor should bring an important "tool" to every client engagement, a "value proposition framework", an outline of talking points listing down the reasons as to why we are the best person to advice them on their personal finance matters

this is something that we should spend time to develop and continuously improve 

Write it down, amend to improve, practice, amend again is necessary, memorize (yes, memorize) and let it serve as a guide whenever we have client dialogues

here is a sample framework that may help you develop your own value proposition framework

all the best my friends!

47. Are you over-diversified?

Diversification as an investment strategy to minimize risk is the hallmark of prudent fund management, while it makes sense to spread your funds across asset classes to limit downside risk, a diversified portfolio also limits your upside potential

Systemic and unsystematic risk 

Systemic risk refers to the risk of a breakdown of an entire system rather than simply the failure of individual parts. In a financial context, if denotes the risk of a cascading failure in the financial sector, caused by linkages within the financial system, resulting in a severe economic downturn. (as defined by the CFA Institute)

Unsystematic risk is the risk that is unique to a specific company or industry. ... In the context of an investment portfolio, unsystematic risk can be reduced through diversification (as defined by Investopedia)

Systemic risk cannot be diversified away, this is also known as "market risk", this is the risk that we need to assume to generate returns, some recent example of systemic risk is the 2008 Financial Crisis and the more recent global pandemic

Even though market risk cannot be diversified away, history has shown that markets almost always recover after these financial catastrophes

Diversification only protects portfolio value due to the failure of individual parts

Having said this, is there a proper level of diversification?

From a personal finance context, we can simplify diversification in relation to our spending intentions (our three baskets), 1. for liquidity (savings account) 2. to achieve major life goals (stocks and bonds) 3. to mitigate financial risk (insurance) see my post on diversification (#27)

Suggested diversification inside your three baskets

For your liquidity portion - best to diversify to no more than 2 well established bank for your savings account requirements, this is considering the minimum account balances requirements to avail of promotions and perks

For your life goals portfolio - an asset allocation between a growth component (equity funds, index funds) and a stabilizing component (money market, fixed-income, bond funds) relative to your time horizon, lets say you started with 60/40 for a 10-year goal, make sure to review your allocation regularly and re-balance if needed, an overweight or underweight exposure to any of the two components will either make your portfolio too aggressive or conservative, this could have a bearing on the final outcome 

For your insurance needs - Focus on the breadth of coverage rather than returns, givens will be the stability and reputation of the insurer, essential coverage would be health, your life and properties

Diversification is a time-tested strategy to mitigate risk, but just like any other good thing, too much of it may not be good, find your balance!

All the best!

46. Should you worry about inflation? here is my simplest explanation why

 

Inflation is the increase in the price of goods and services.

• why should you be concerned if whether inflation goes up or down?
• YOU SHOULD IF YOU ARE SAVING MONEY!
• the money that you save today you will most probably spend in the future
• the amount of goods and services you can spend for in the future depends on its future price
• if the money you are saving today is not rising as fast as the increase in prices, you are losing money (in terms of its spending power)

Inflation is an investment risk that cannot be totally eliminated, it can only be minimized

it can be minimized by limiting the amount of your savings you keep in the losing asset (in this case, maybe a savings account), prudent rule of thumb is just keeping an amount equivalent to three to six months of your average family expenses

anything in excess is best diversified away (invest in other assets)

inflation over the short-term may not be a serious threat (anyway its just a few percentage)

but over the long-term it can compound to significant losses

the decision to save money may not be an easy decision for some of us, it can involve the making of "sacrifices" in the present to be able to set aside money for the future

I remember a young breadwinner telling me that in order for him to save, he gave up their weekly family bonding

this is quite hard for him as their weekly family outing is his only opportunity to have fun with his family as he is busy "making a living" during weekdays

to save money, he brings his family out to just once a month

don't let your sacrifices go to waste, protect the value of your savings! diversify, diversify, diversify!

45. How important is your "risk tolerance" when choosing an investment?

 

One of my earliest client when I was starting in PAMI way back in 1995 was a lady who keeps telling me she is a conservative investor, she asked me which among the mutual funds we offer is the most appropriate for her

with this information, I promptly recommended our bond fund - a fund that invests primarily in high grade corporate bonds and government securities

I visited her in early 2020 just before the lockdown to give her an update, I happily reported that the 500,000 she initially invested in 1995 in the bond fund is now worth 1.3 million - a 166% GAIN!

Leaving her office a thought came to my mind, considering her long holding period (25 years), what if I recommended the equity fund instead? 

Lesson learned : as financial advisors it is important that we ask all the appropriate questions during our interview, aside from knowing a client's risk preference, we should also try to find out the client's intended holding period among others, combine these information together to come up with a more market responsive financial advice

#acgadvice

44. Build your prospect base through advocacy

 

This is the promise to successful financial advisors

at the end of the day, its a numbers game, our chances of success is a direct proportion to the number of "interested" persons we talked to

the best way to turn a lead into a prospect is to generate interest, 

the best way to generate interest is to provide high quality financial information that can help improve their financial position, 

providing helpful information for FREE is our advocacy

Giving it out for free without any commitments will help in gaining access to more people

the more people we advocate to; more people may avail of our products and services

Going on a mission of financial advocacy-providing free high quality financial information may seem like a futile exercise, you have to think of it as if you are planting seeds, while there is no guarantee that all the seeds will bear fruit, some of it may grow into something worthwhile

call reluctance is what stops most of us from seeing a lot of people, it is the result of not being able to handle rejections very well

Changing the "context" of your encounter with a lead  from a sales call to an advocacy sharing meeting will give you the moral boost to see even more people, 

because the objective of advocacy is simply to share, you will find fulfillment, and will want to do it again, and again, and again

on the side of your lead, the information you provide may cause him to want to know more, this will give you the opportunity for a second meeting 

give first and you shall receive

#acgadvice