Douglas Boneparth working from home with daughter Hazel, 4.
Douglas Boneparth, president of RIA Bone Fide Wealth in New York, is sheltering in place in Westfield, New Jersey, with two kids, 1 and 4, along with his wife and mother-in-law.
He took a "break" from his new work/life schedule to share his views on how to best serve clients and take care of yourself during the coronavirus pandemic.
THINKADVISOR: What are your clients asking you?
DOUGLAS BONEPARTH: What they should do. Now, they're in two camps.
Most clients are younger, long-term investors and they're mostly inquiring about how to take advantage of opportunities regarding dips in the market. That's the optimistic crowd of long-term thinkers.
On the other side, you have folks who want to know when and where this thing bottoms and how bad it can get. And there's no easy answer for that right now, but you do your best to set expectations.
Financial planning is the best tool we have to set those expectations.
How are you working with clients from home?
I reserve the daytime when the markets are open to place any transactions or trades or deal with any emergencies and other things that need to be taken care of quickly.
The evening, after the kids have gone to bed, is for calls that I've set up — about financial planning, discussions about strategy, more elaborate calls with less urgency.
That's how I've divided up my day. That allows me to help my family at home during the daytime. It's very hard to dedicate an hour to some tasks during the day.
How are you making it work? Any best practices?
Be very mindful of your time, because how you spend your time can be challenging with work, life and family.
But one thing I've found to be very effective is what I've created. It's a more customized system that's capable of handling orders and decisions that have come in.
