How to Talk to Clients During a Recession: A Step-by-step guide for advisors using Nitrogen

Recessions are nothing new—they’re a natural part of the economic cycle. But every time the markets experience a deep downturn, it brings on a fresh wave of worry for investors. As an advisor, your focus now is to not just navigate recent volatility but calm your clients’ concerns as well. 

Recent headlines spotlight economic uncertainty like tariffs and inflation. These sources of financial unease can increase recession chatter and make it difficult for clients to stay focused on the future. But as you know, recessions are a normal movement in the investment landscape. The challenge now is to help your clients feel grounded and secure during the ups and downs of impending economic uncertainty.

Calming Clients’ Recession Worries with Nitrogen

Nitrogen was built to equip financial professionals with the tools they need to respond in real time to evolving economic conditions while reinforcing clients’ long-term planning goals.  

Consider this: When uncertainty takes hold, your clients’ default reaction is most likely fear or anxiety. They may be concerned about their declining portfolio values, job security, political turmoil, retirement timeline, or something else entirely. Whatever’s remaining top of mind for your clients, recession-related anxiety could lead them to make reactive decisions that ultimately jeopardize their long-term plans—thankfully they have you there to step in.

The key to supporting your clients through their recession worries is to communicate proactively and leverage personalized data that can add context and reassurance to the uncertainties they may be feeling.

Your Step-by-Step Nitrogen Playbook

Here’s a step-by-step guide to using your Nitrogen toolkit to calm client fears during periods of economic uncertainty and market downturn.

Step 1: Send a Check-In

To start, you need to gauge how your clients are feeling, not just what they’re thinking. Don’t assume every client shares the same level of concern. Or, for that matter, don’t assume every client is concerned about the same issues. Checking in with each client can help you pinpoint which of your clients could use some extra care.

Nitrogen’s Check-In feature enables you to quickly send an engaging pulse check that goes beyond basic performance metrics. By asking clients how they’re feeling, the Check-In feature helps open the door to more meaningful conversations that target each client’s specific concerns.

Step 2: Pull Up the Risk Number

One of the scariest things about recession worries is the unknown. When left to face recession fears on their own, your clients don’t have the data-driven assurance that can help them feel secure in their own financial life and prepared for what may come. That means when markets fluctuate, your clients might start to feel like their entire financial future is at risk. 

But with Nitrogen, you can ease their fears using current data showing that their plan hasn’t changed, even if the market has.

Nitrogen’s Risk Number enables financial professionals to remind clients that their portfolio is aligned with their personal risk tolerance. Having data-driven reassurance goes a long way toward reducing emotional decision-making—it’s certainly more effective than receiving a generic “don’t worry, keep calm, and carry on” email that’s meant for the masses. 

Step 3: Use the Retirement Map

The average length of a recession is about 17 months, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). But your clients’ financial journey is much, much longer than that—most likely spanning decades. 

Nitrogen’s Retirement Map helps put short-term turbulence into long-term perspective. By showing that a client’s current trajectory remains aligned with retirement goals, even in a down market, you can help your client stay the course with greater confidence.

In other words, this Nitrogen feature helps your clients better understand why it doesn’t make sense to upend their existing trajectory to accommodate a short-term upset.

Step 4: Run a Stress Test

At the end of the day, your clients want to know how today’s headlines affect them personally. They need to understand, “Am I going to be okay?” and they’re looking to you for that guidance. 

Whether it’s tariffs, inflation, or a market correction, Nitrogen’s Stress Test tool lets you model specific economic scenarios and apply them to a client’s unique portfolio. Seeing how their investments would have performed during a similar past event can help you transform abstract fears into manageable insights while providing a realistic view of potential outcomes.

Again, the purpose of running a stress test for today’s economic climate is to take away the unknown, demystify what your clients hear and see on the news, and consider today’s factors against their unique financial situation. In doing so, you’re helping your clients address their biggest money fears head-on using the most up-to-date information available.

Engage in Dynamic Client Discussions with Nitrogen

Remember, your clients’ fear isn’t a sign that you’re failing as an advisor. Rather, it’s an opportunity to reinforce the trust you’ve already worked hard to build. When you’re proactive in acknowledging your clients’ concerns and providing actionable, personalized guidance, they walk away feeling heard, supported, and more confident in their long-term plan.

Nitrogen was built to help support advisors through these tough conversations. With tools that enable you to visualize data in a way that makes sense to clients, validate their existing risk alignment, and model real-world outcomes—you can have smarter, more productive discussions with less stress.

Recessions are inevitable, but the panic that often accompanies them doesn’t have to be. With Nitrogen, you can stay one step ahead of client concerns and deliver the clarity they desire during turbulent times.

Not using Nitrogen yet? Schedule a demo to see how it can help you lead confident client conversations—through this market cycle and beyond.