123: The Language of Loss: How to Communicate With Grieving Clients with Kathi Balasek

Financial advisors are on the front lines of bad news.

Your entire business is filled with clients who have either experienced grief or will experience grief at some point in their lives.

When that time comes, you’ll often be one of the first people they talk to.

And, unfortunately, we aren’t naturally “grief-literate.” We feel awkward, don’t know what to say, and generally mishandle the conversation.

But, when you have a process for handling grieving clients, you can capitalize on the opportunity to forge deeper relationships and grow your business.

In this episode, grief literacy expert Kathi Balasek reveals the essential skills financial advisors need to navigate conversations with clients experiencing grief. 

You’ll Learn: 

• The #1 reason widows leave their advisors
• What NOT to say during times of grief and loss
• How to help clients avoid big decisions during times of grief
• The significance of creating a “lesson plan” for a post-loss meeting
• What her advisor did well in her first meeting after losing her husband

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Resources:

• “It’s Okay That You’re Not Okay” by Megan Devine

Connect with Brendan Frazier: 

• RFG Advisory
• LinkedIn: Brendan Frazier

Connect with Kathi Balasek: 

• kathibalasek.com
• LinkedIn: Kathi Balasek

About Our Guest: 

Kathi Balasek is an educator, grief literacy communication coach, university asst. professor, speaker, and widow advocate. She trains professionals on how to improve their grief literacy communication skills to engage, support, and retain clients and employees going through life’s most difficult transitions. Whether it is the surviving spouse, the family member with a serious health diagnosis, or a major life transition, these conversations are pivotal to knowing exactly what to say and do. Everyone experiences grief and loss as it is a universal experience. However, it isn’t a universal language – let’s change this together!

Experiencing the emotional, physical, and financial uniqueness of widowhood firsthand, she learned that the relationship between professionals and bereaved clients is pivotal. Combining her 25 years of teaching, coaching, research, and personal experience, she created Grief Smart Professional as a tool to help professionals retain, connect, and support clients experiencing loss, grief, and widowhood. Grief literacy communication is vital to helping all clients before, during, and after a death occurs. 

She is a widow advocate. She stands up and fights for the rights of widows, their livelihood, and their financial future. 

Along with her mission-driven business, Grief Smart Professional, she is a university professor and currently, she teaches at California State University, Chico in the Department of Communication and Education. 

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Content here is for illustrative purposes and general information only. It is not legal, tax, or individualized financial advice; nor is it a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any specific security, or engage in any specific trading strategy. 

Information here may be provided, in part, by third-party sources. These sources are generally deemed to be reliable; however, neither our guest nor RFG Advisory guarantee the accuracy of third-party sources. 

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