March 2, 2009 Financial planners see more nervous clients Play video

(Peter Howe, NECN) - It's not easy to know what to do with your money these days -- where to keep it, and how to invest. And the market turmoil means financial planners are seeing higher demand and more nervous clients -- and having to figure out 100 different ways of saying, "Try to be patient."

Financial planner Mike Bonacorsi of Amherst, N.H., is making a lot of phone calls these days to touch base with clients. Bonacorsi helps about 100 clients manage $20 million, many for retirement, and he's also the author of a new book called "Retirement Readiness: Creating your vision, knowing your position, and preparing for your future.''

Many of Bonacorsi's clients have been through the wringer.

"It's certainly the year you want to forget," Bonacorsi said. "It's been difficult. It's been stressful for our clients. A lot of nervousness out there, a lot of hand holding."

Howe: Not just the year you want to forget -- the decade you want to forget. Bill Clinton was just starting his second term as president the last time the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed as low as it did on Monday. At 6763.29, the Dow ended Monday at its lowest level since April 25, 1997. It's down 52.3 percent from its peak on Oct. 9, 2007.

"That's the constant thing that we hear, even from the most sophisticated investors: 'When will this every end?'" Bonacorsi says. "I had a recent conversation with a couple. They're five to 10 years away from retirement. They were hoping

Mike has a classic kind of small-town financial advisory, taking care of everyone from machinists and utility workers to doctors, CFO's, and CEO's. He says he has landed a few new clients since the market crashed in the fall. "Some people have tried to do it themselves and realized, there's just a lot more out there they need to know before they can continue,'' Bonacorsi said.

How about that question: When will this stock market collapse ever end? Bonacorsi said it's difficult to know how close we are to a bottom, given all the uncertainty in the market and the repeated demands by companies like Citigroup and AIG for billions more in federal bailout money. "Like a lot of people out there,'' Bonacorsi said, "I'm hoping that maybe we'll start to see some improvement in the second half of the year.''