WHEN YOUR ADVISOR IS ON VACATION

When you're away from work, you can hide your absence by checking messages and responding from around the world. If your physical location doesn't matter, you're a step closer to The 4-Hour Workweek, which is better  than the 4-hour night sleep.

Most of us take short breaks of days or weeks. Only three countries have less than 20 paid vacation days per year: Canada, Japan, United States.

There's a downside to remaining connected wile on vacation. You don't get a proper rest from the busy-ness of working life. You need times to disconnect. That's more difficult (and more important)  we're connected with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Pinterest and the office.

Your Advisor

Absences give a good clue into how well your advisor serves you. When your advisor is inaccessible for days or weeks, do you know in advance?

You may not care ... until the moment you need you help. Consider your doctor or dentist. Where they are doesn't matter until you're sick or experience pain --- or have guests who need immediate treatment.

In contrast, you’ll probably survive if your financial planner is on vacation. Perhaps that’s another reason they’re ranked #5 in the list of best jobs and why advisors become advisors.

Simple Solutions

It's very easy for your advisor to keep you informed of absences in advance. Email works well and is free. Newsletters like (e.g., Marketing Reflections) are even better: they're nicely formatted and let the sender see who's reading them.

Online Calendars

Advisors can also put their calendars online. You won't know specifically what they're doing but you'll know when they're available. That's a nice blend of transparency for you and privacy for them. As a bonus, you'll see how busy your advisors are.

For years, I've used Tungle.me even though RIM bought them in 2011. There are other choices too. My calendar is at tungle.me/ps.

As a side benefit, your advisor with an online calendar could let you book appointments directly. If only doctors would allow this (or have the phones answered promptly).

Advisors who work in large firms face many restrictions and probably can't make their masked calendars available publicly. However, they may have backup in place when they're away. They could at least send email in advance. They probably do internally but that doesn't really help you.

No Vacation

Some advisors who are always available. They’ll take calls when they’re on the golf course, in a restaurant or in a meeting. They might even wear a Bluetooth earplug all day long. These advisors maybe

• unsuccessful: can’t afford a break
• workaholics: can’t take a break

Either way, they'll have difficulty performing well for you if they don’t take time to recharge.

Vacation

There's nothing wrong in taking a vacation. Advisors needn't tell the whole world (especially when working from a home office). What's the harm in them telling you? After all, you pay for the trip.

Links

• The new list of the best and worst jobs
• The 4-Hour workweek interview: part 1, part 2 (Canadian-Money-Advisor.ca, Mar 2010)
• The 4-Hour workweek: How much do you really earn?
• The US is the most overworked developed nationOverworked (20 something finance, Oct 2010) 
• Three tips for holiday spending
• The hidden costs of air travel
• How to visit India
• image courtesy of Christopher Hall

Podcast 177

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PS Should you tell your advisor when you're away?