There’s something peculiar that tends to happen when markets become uncertain. People start to feel uneasy. The more uneasy people feel, the more they look for quick answers.
Should I sell? Should I stop my SIP? Should I wait? Should I move to something safer?
At such crossroads, investors rarely suffer from a shortage of information. In fact, the opposite is often true. Access to information is much easier today; it’s sitting on their phones in the form of charts and data, expert opinions, videos and predictions. But what all these information doesn’t solve for is perspective.
This is where the role of an advisor becomes valuable.
For a long time, an important role of an advisor was to help investors access and understand products. Which product? Which fund? How has it performed? Is it suitable for me?
An advisor who understood products well and could simplify choices for investors, played an important role in an investor’s wealth creation journey. But that role is evolving.
Today, product information, performance history, comparisons and market commentary are easily available at the tap of a button. SEBI’s 2025 Investor Survey found that 56% of investors turn to financial influencers for information around securities-market products.
So finding an opinion is rarely a problem anymore. The harder part for the investor is deciding what to ignore and what to pay attention to.
To me, this is where the role of an advisor is evolving.
When markets rise or fall sharply, the anxiety in investors can make them believe that they need to do something. The investor’s goal may be the same. The time to reach it may still be the same. Yet, in that moment, changing the plan can feel very tempting.
This is where an advisor’s job can look very different from product selection. Sometimes the conversation is not about finding a better product. It’s about asking the investor to wait or reminding them that doing nothing is also a decision.
The advisor’s greatest value increasingly lies in helping investors avoid making the wrong choices. But this value is not always easy to see. We can measure the return on an investment. But we cannot measure the loss that did not happen because an investor was persuaded not to sell in panic, chase a trend or abandon a long-term plan after a few difficult months.
Over time, these moments matter. A few emotional decisions made at the wrong time can undo years of discipline.
This is why the relationship with an advisor can become less transactional over time. It’s no longer only about the portfolio, but about understanding the person behind the portfolio. Their goals. Their responsibilities. And most importantly how they are likely to react when things become uncomfortable. It’s about building trust.
This doesn’t mean that product knowledge is unimportant. Rather it’s the starting point to a long-term relationship with the investor.
As investing becomes more accessible, the future of advice may, in some ways may, become more human.
I sometimes think of a good advisor like a Sherpa on a long trek. The Sherpa does not walk the terrain for you. Nor do they remove every difficult stretch. But they understand the terrain, recognise when conditions are changing and most importantly, push you to keep moving when the path becomes uncertain.
What the Sherpa brings is perspective. They know the terrain and understand that uncertainty is part of the journey while helping the trekker to move ahead.
Investing is much the same. Markets will rise and fall. There will always be opinions telling investors what to do next.
Perhaps this is where the advisor’s role is ultimately headed. It’s not just about helping investors choose a path but helping them stay on it when uncertainty makes them question it.
