Booth urges data-driven plans, coaching at Morningstar

Dimensional Fund Advisors founder David Booth told advisers at Morningstar’s conference in Chicago last week to prepare clients for market uncertainty with data-driven plans and steady behavioral coaching. The event, held at Navy Pier, drew about 2,000 attendees and featured speakers from Dimensional, Morningstar and the hospitality sector.

Booth framed advisers’ primary task as helping clients stick to a sensible program when the future is unclear. He repeated a line from a longtime adviser: “I don’t have clients with investment problems. I’ve got investments with client problems.” Booth recommended rules-based thinking and the use of data to form ‘‘your best guess going forward,” while acknowledging that anxiety about markets will persist. He noted Dimensional recently passed $1 trillion in client assets and addressed media speculation about a potential sale by saying he remains focused on clients and employees. Booth also discussed his forthcoming book, Stay Calm: Learn to Embrace Uncertainty in Investing and Life, due in September.

Morningstar behavioral researchers Samantha Lamas and Danielle Labotka presented findings from interviews with about 50 advisers across the U.S. and three other countries. Their recommendations included creating explicit plans for before, during and after market downturns; using client education to set expectations about capital markets; and practicing active listening and reassurance during volatile periods. The researchers distributed worksheets for advisers to formalize those plans and to track outcomes in client conversations.

Lamas pointed to visual aids as a practical tool to keep clients focused on long-term returns. “What I find very powerful is the use of visuals,” she noted, showing Morningstar analyses that chart the long-term upward trend of U.S. stocks despite repeated troughs. Morningstar data cited at the session showed that $1 invested in a U.S. stock index in 1871 would grow to more than $35,000 in inflation-adjusted terms, while presenters warned investors routinely face many interim crashes.

Former Eleven Madison Park co-owner Will Guidara urged advisers to borrow techniques from hospitality to strengthen client relationships. He described advisory practices as “one of the biggest relationship industries that doesn’t understand they’re in a relationship industry” and advised firms to identify overlooked touch points in the client experience. Guidara suggested small, unexpected gestures—”gift outside the gifting cycle”—and paying attention to service moments that can build trust. He added that advisers are “walking down the road of life alongside your clients,” present for both celebrations and difficult times.

Speakers emphasized that behavioral coaching is already part of many advisers’ daily work and offered concrete tools — from plan worksheets to visual aids — intended to help advisers reduce impulsive client decisions during sell-offs and support clients through downturns.