11 headline-shaking events this week, all leading to one conversation. Make sure to get ahead of it.

The real conversation this week isn’t about the data. It’s about the bills.

Here’s what most advisors will do on Friday: the March CPI report drops, it comes in hotter than expected, and they’ll send out a market recap. Stocks moved. Fed expectations shifted. Headline number here, core number there.

And their clients, if they read it at all, will think: so what? What’s the CPI?

Because your clients aren’t watching CPI data, they’re watching the pump. They’re watching the grocery receipt. They’re seeing their suppliers raise prices on them again. They’ve been feeling this for weeks. And the war driving it has been on every front page since February 28th.

The clients calling this week aren’t calling because they saw CPI come out ahead or below expectations. They’re calling because they filled up their tank and it cost $4.11, the highest average national price since August 2022, and they want to know what they need to do about it.

This week gives you a window to be a proactive advisor who gets it. Use it.

Data and science to help you anticipate client questions and concerns this week

Calendar:

Let’s break it down…

Why it matters: This week will be all about the cost of living and doing business. Fuel costs have been the big focus, but this week will bring the discussion back to everything driving higher, what’s causing it (we’ve forgotten about tariffs a bit), and what it means for the Fed, borrowing costs, investments, hiring, and just about everything else.

The March CPI drops Friday. The Fed’s preferred, but tardy, inflation gauge, the PCE price index, comes out on Thursday. We also have two different readings on inflation expectations, which are the thing the Fed cares about the most for policy decisions. If tariffs and oil are short-term spikes and no one expects it to be more than that, the Fed has more flexibility to ride out the [don’t say transitory] inflation.

Fed meeting minutes come out on Wednesday, fueling more interest rate discussions and predictions.

Between now and then, every financial outlet will publish something about “hotter-than-expected inflation,” “Fed rate cut odds,” and “market reaction.” Most advisors will share that content. Most of that content will mean nothing to the people who actually need a call from you this week.

Your clients don’t measure inflation by the rate of change. They measure it by how much their life costs more than it did two years ago. Tell them inflation is down, and they’ll ask “where?” That distinction matters enormously to how you talk about this.

And here’s the tension underneath it all: if the March CPI comes in hot, and the Cleveland Fed’s nowcast suggests it will, investors will reprice their expectations for Fed rate cuts. That means borrowing stays expensive. Mortgages stay expensive. Lines of credit stay expensive. Business expansion stays expensive. That’s the conversation to get ahead of before it lands in your voicemail.

Biases at play:

Retirees and Pre-Retirees: Living on a fixed or semi-fixed income, they feel every price increase as an erosion of what they saved. Their Social Security COLA was 2.5% this year. Their grocery bill is up more than that.

The question underneath every call is the same one: Is my income and withdrawal plan still going to work?

Business Owners: Input costs, fuel costs, and shipping costs are business problems right now, not just personal ones. A business owner filling up a truck fleet, ordering supplies, or quoting projects is getting squeezed on both the input side and the customer side. Raising prices risks losing customers. Absorbing costs risks losing margin.

Young and Growing Families: Already stretched between childcare, housing costs, and competing savings goals, a $1+ per gallon increase in gas and continued grocery inflation hit a household budget with very little room to absorb it. Their instinct will be to pull back on investing first, often the last thing they should do.

Helpful context:

Why it matters: The war is still the conversation weighing on everything else, driving the most conspicuous inflation, delaying business decisions, keeping investors on pause.

People tend to turn a little numb to the updates, so expect them not to be informed about the latest, especially when everything is shifting this dramatically day by day. It’s too hard to stay informed when every reported policy direction feels like gossip, and the threats aren’t often real.

They will look to you to cut through the noise and give them the latest.

Here’s the timeline:

On February 28th, the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran.

On March 4th, Iran formally declared the Strait of Hormuz closed and began targeting commercial vessels. Since then, the Strait, which normally handles roughly 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, has seen traffic fall to more than 90% below normal levels, according to ship tracking data cited by Al Jazeera. The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Iran launched missiles around the region.

This weekend, Iran announced that Iraqi vessels could pass freely while restrictions remain on “enemy nations.” Traffic is ticking up from its historic lows, but remains far below normal.

Monday is the next milestone. President Trump extended his pause on threatened strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure until April 6th at 8 PM EST to allow for negotiations. The White House has described negotiations as “going very well” while making clear that a full, unconditional reopening of the Strait remains the benchmark for avoiding escalation.

More than forty United Nations countries gathered virtually on April 2nd to discuss action to reopen the Strait. Plans TBA.

The result at the pump: Global crude oil was trading around $104–$111 per barrel as of early April, up more than 50% from roughly $70 before the conflict began. The AAA national average hit $4.11 on April 5th, up $1.08 (more than 33%) from one month ago.

Your clients are not tracking ceasefire timelines. But they are tracking the pump. This week’s diplomatic calendar is the most direct driver of oil prices, and therefore gas prices, shipping costs, and business input costs, heading into the CPI and PPI releases.

Biases at play:

Business Owner: “My freight costs are through the roof. If oil stays this high for six months, I have to raise prices. How do I think about that planning-wise?”

Retiree: “We drive a lot between our kids’ homes. The gas bill is so much bigger. Is this going to get worse before it gets better?”

Common mistakes and overreactions to expect: Retirees making portfolio changes in response to energy headlines, like moving to cash or cutting allocations because “it feels too uncertain.” The instinct to reduce exposure during vivid, scary-looking events is exactly what loss aversion produces, and exactly what derails long-term plans.

Helpful context:

One thing worth reading, and exactly why it’s worth your time

One practical thing you can use in your practice, in your content, or on a call

Nobody talks about the LinkedIn newsletter.

They look at a newsletter like “content” they need to produce, instead of what it can really be: infrastructure.

Infrastructure that replicates what you do in person, at scale.

A weekly touchpoint with clients, an open channel that can become a habit.

How valuable would it be for your relationships if you magically had time for a coffee chat with every client and prospect every week?

And prospecting? A LinkedIn newsletter adds a uniquely valuable logistical layer to that infrastructure.

Right now, you’re spending hours attending community events, annual golf tournaments, business conferences, hoping to bump into those few people from your network, remind them you’re an advisor, and build enough trust over (years?) so that when they need an advisor, they think of you.

A LinkedIn newsletter does this function at scale, without the awkwardness. It automatically invites your entire network the moment you create a newsletter - no ask, no pitch, no awkward DM. I’ve seen 25–30% of an advisor’s connections convert in the first week alone. Hundreds of people, passively opted in, before you’ve written your second issue.

And then it keeps working. Every new connection you make from that point forward gets automatically invited. Meet someone at an event, connect on LinkedIn, and they’re now on your list before you’ve had a second conversation.

No need to awkwardly try to steer the conversation to figure out how much money they have or mention you’re an advisor. Just “let’s stay connected,” with a soft automatic invitation to your “free subscription.” No need to even exchange contact info, and you’re in their inbox and on their feed every week.

That’s the funnel most advisors are trying to build from scratch. It’s already built. It’s just sitting there.

The one thing that makes or breaks it: consistent relevance.

Let’s face it: finance topics are already an uphill battle for engagement. And, many advisors make it worse by spending each week talking about a new topic that their audience has to think about maybe once in their entire life.

People consistently engage with two forms of content: news and entertainment.

Advisors have a unique opportunity to be a reliable translator for the news impacting your clients’ business, home, career, cost of living, and more that they don’t feel comfortable reading about on CNBC or the Wall Street Journal.

Keep it simple, skimmable. It’s about the habit and the pattern. It’s the act of having the coffee chat scheduled and showing up with something relevant.

Start it this week. The list compounds. So does the regret of waiting.

Not marketing advice. Just what works.

See you next week,

Augustus

Augustus Christensen
Founder & CEO