After a tumultuous start to 2016, which saw markets slide for much of the month of January before stabilizing in February, advisors are engaging investors in discussions encouraging a long-term outlook. 

But 2016’s tensions may not be over. On Wednesday, analysts at Citigroup lowered their projections for global economic growth while raising fears of a recession, and last week Bank of America economists reported a 50-50 chance of the U.S. entering a recession.

None of that news is altogether unexpected: In January, Omar Aguilar, the chief investment officer for equities for Charles Schwab Investment Management, said that the messy markets are actually a return to normal.

“We have lived in a low-volatility environment since 2008,” Aguilar said. “We’re finally seeing what real volatility in equities is.”

John Straus, CEO of FallLine Investments, a Darien, Conn.-based financial consultant, says the market volatility startled some high-net-worth investors and advisors.

“It’s true that markets have calmed down a tad in recent weeks, and people are following suit,” Straus says. “Around two to three weeks ago, we were hearing from a lot of stressed people. They were bordering on as stressed as they were in 2009. There are still a lot of bad things going on, and I don’t think anyone should be complacent when there are 8 to 10 percent swings in the markets.”

However, Margaret Kineke, a Seattle-based financial advisor and senior vice president with D.A. Davidson, says her clients didn’t really start to worry until recently.

“When we started talking about volatility last year, everyone was relaxed,” Kineke says. “Everyone looked at their cash reserves and said ‘What should we buy?’ But a couple of weeks ago they started to get nervous and were more concerned about whether this instability was going to continue rather than looking for buying opportunities.”

Kristian Finfrock, an advisor at Retirement Income Strategies, an RIA, says that a prolonged period of volatility could lead to poor investor behavior.

“Even the folks who look at their portfolio performance and say they’re going to be OK can change their minds when volatility kicks in,” Finfrock says. “I don’t recall clients in years past being as concerned as they are today.”

But Kineke remains calm. In fact, she was expecting the downturn, which she argues mirrors a similar downturn in early 2011.

“We had been waiting for a correction, sitting on our hands with a lot of cash,” she says. “It’s more frustrating to have all that cash without a lot of return.”

George Tamer, TD Ameritrade’s managing director of strategic relationships, says that advisors learned the value of communication through market turmoil during the 2008 financial crisis.

“We found that advisors really have to communicate,” Tamer says. “It’s not just about putting newsletters or blogs out there, but reaching people directly.”

That’s important, says Finfrock, because investors are exposed to conflicting messaging and advice through the financial media.

“There are a lot of fearmongers out there trying to sell their own products and services,” Finfrock says. “The media’s job is to sell advertisements, and in some places the way they do that is to sensationalize every tick upward or downward that the markets take.”

Straus says that market commentators are a constant thorn in advisors’ side.

“The market pundits have all been 100 percent wrong,” Straus says. “They missed the big downside at the beginning of the year, and they missed the big uptick over the past few weeks. No one has a working crystal ball.”

Finfrock says taking a broader view of the global and domestic economies helps his clients put their fears into perspective.

“We’re reminding them of the positive things in the economy,” he says. “We’re in such a different space today than we were back in 2008. For the most part, earnings are coming back strong, companies have more cash on hand and most people are not overleveraged.”

Finfrock said his clients often want to discuss the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as the primary contests are exacerbating clients’ anxieties.

“They seem to think it has a lot to do with the market, but I disagree,” Finfrock says. “The president doesn’t really have that much of an impact, but it can be challenging to talk to clients about it.”

Straus says the 2008-2009 financial crisis is a great teaching tool, and not only because it occurred amid one of the most hotly contested presidential elections in American history. By comparison, 2016’s turmoil is tame.

“Back in 2008, I was receiving calls from people asking if their money was safe at UBS or Morgan Stanley,” Straus says. “The structural problems were so different from what we have today. We’re not worried about the financial system collapsing.”

Kineke is telling her clients that if they resisted the temptation to sell during the crisis, and again during the “flash crash” in late August, they should be able to avoid selling now.

“Back in March 2009, I only had two people who sold out of their investments,” Kineke says. “With some people, you can’t stop them. You can’t know exactly what’s going to happen, but you have a responsibility to try hard to dissuade them from making that mistake.”

The best way to do that is through spending more time and resources communicating with clients, Tamer says, which requires a more efficient office.

“Advisors need the technology and support staff to free them up from most non-client-facing activities,” Tamer says. “At times like this, advisors need to be in front of their clients talking to them. They can’t be stuck behind a desk rebalancing portfolios or using prospect management tools.”

Investment management also plays a role in tamping down client concerns.

Tom Weilert, a financial advisor with Northwestern Mutual, said that building a stream of guaranteed investment income helps ensure that his clients won’t panic.

“There has to be some source of base income, like Social Security, a pension or an annuity, to provide for them no matter what,” Weilert says. “Then we build up some cash reserves—the combination of cash plus guaranteed income is a firewall against market downturns, because they can go three, four, five or six years without touching their investments.”

Weilert argues that his strategy nullifies some of the income-dampening effects of low interest rate policies.

Planning for income distribution instead of growth also alters the way Weilert’s clients react to volatility and downturns, he says.

“I think two-thirds of the calls we’ve gotten over the past few weeks have come from people asking if they should put more of their cash reserves into the market,” Weilert says. “Only a third of them were anxious.”

Advisors are also building reliable income streams outside of annuity products—Kineke is recommending preferred equities and some short-term bonds to her income-dependent clients.

“I’m a big fan of the bond ladder, but low rates are making it difficult,” Kineke says. “So I’m making sure that my clients’ ladders are intact and searching for opportunities. There’s a Bank of America bond right now that you can get for 2 percent for 1.5 years; that’s pretty good. I also look for kicker bonds in the municipal world, something that’s callable in a year.”

Kineke is also investing clients in stocks from D.A. Davidson’s list of “dividend achievers” like McDonald’s, AT&T and Kimberly-Clark.

Finfrock says that bear markets give fiduciaries the opportunity to prove their worth.

“It gives guys like me a platform,” Finfrock says. “We’re someone to talk to, and we’re the ones who are going to remind them that this too shall pass. As long as we look deeply at what we’re invested in and what our long-term goals are, we’re fine. We don’t need to make any rash decisions.”

Finfrock is positive that the markets will right themselves in 2016.

“I don’t think the other shoe is going to drop,” he says. “Yes, there’s more uncertainty, but we’ve had multiple corrections over the past 10 years, and every seven years the market has a dramatic recovery. I’m in the camp that believes there is some life in this market.”