Grief-Ready Communication Training

for Financial Advisors

80% of Widowed Clients Leave Their Financial Advisor Within 12 Months

And yet, very few financial firms are training their advisors on what to say and do in critical professional turned personal moments

I help financial firms protect AUM and client loyalty through grief-informed communication training built specifically for advisors.

You must Prepare for the Worst Moments to Come

When a client loses a spouse, files for divorce, or becomes a caregiver, the relationship resets overnight. How key players respond in these critical moments shapes the future of their professional relationships.

Without grief-ready training, what happens?

The widow feels unseen.
The newly divorced client questions alignment.
The caregiver feels overwhelmed.
The heir chooses someone else.

… and years of AUM walk out the door. quietly.

But all of this is preventable.

What's at Stake?

~ 80% of widows change advisors within the first year.

~ 60–70% of women switch advisors after inheriting wealth. UBS / McKinsey

~ $84 trillion is transferring to heirs over the next two decades. Cerulli Associates

~ 70% of sandwich generation caregivers report caregiving has significantly disrupted their retirement plans. Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement Study

~ If your firm doesn’t respond well in these moments, you are not competing for that capital

Is your firm ready for what happens when a client's world falls apart?

Tier 1

Custom Firm Playbook + Training

"We need a firm-wide system for handling client loss."

This is infrastructure. Kathi works directly with firm leadership to build a fully customized grief-response communications playbook — built around your brand, your culture, and your clients. Includes live training for your team so the system actually gets used.

Best for: Firm leadership ready to operationalize grief-ready communication across the organization.

Schedule a Discovery Call

Tier 2

Advisor Workshop

"Our team needs to learn these skills together and practice them."

This is live training and culture building. A half-day or full-day workshop in person or virtual where your advisors learn the frameworks, work through real scenarios, and leave with tools they can use immediately. This is where skills become shared language.

Best for: Advisory teams who want to build this capability together.

Schedule a Discovery Call

Tier 3

Advisor Grief Literacy Training

“I want practical frameworks I can use with clients immediately.”

A self-paced training that equips advisors with the communication skills most were never taught so they can confidently navigate widowhood, divorce, caregiving transitions, and other moments that test client loyalty.

Best for: Individual advisors who want to learn at their own pace.

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Why Me

I spent 25 years as a university professor training adults to master complex skills and.

Then I was widowed at 39.

I navigated financial decisions, raised five children, and experienced firsthand how quickly relationships fracture when professionals don’t know how to respond to loss.

So after I left academia, I set out to build what the financial industry doesn’t teach:

A structured, teachable, repeatable grief-literacy communication framework advisors can implement starting now.

"Kathi Balasek is hands down the best at helping advisors work with clients experiencing grief. Her knowledge, ability to teach, and deep care for women experiencing grief is evident after your first interaction with her. Her class is not just theory but is full of real world tips and advice that I found useful and now use almost daily. I would recommend her class to anyone. She is AWESOME and I am fortunate to have taken her class."

~ Tim Hudson

CFP, Partner at Voyage Financial Partners

~ Stacy Francis

CFP, CDFA, CES; Owner and CEO Francis Financial

"Kathi did a fantastic training for our team of financial advisors on working with clients who are going through grief. We work mainly with widows and women going through divorce, so this was really apropos for us! Kathi was the best presenter I have ever heard on this subject, and she helped us to understand what these clients need and what they don’t need, how to effectively communicate with them in a compassionate and empathetic way, and why all of that is important for us in this industry. Kathi’s talk was highly informative, clarifying, and empowering!"

"After almost 30 years in financial services working with advisors focused on retirement income planning, I have seen that the most successful advisors are those that build strong client relationships. There is no one better to help advisors develop these skills than Kathi Balasek. Her personal experience of losing her husband and working with her advisor through this difficult period gives her a unique perspective, and her expertise as a professional educator and speaker gives her the ability to communicate these complex issues with a level of clarity and compassion that is rarely found in this industry."

~ Sheryl O'Connor

CEO & Founder, IncomeConductor