Helping clients manage their investments isn't easy even in the best of times - and the last few years have certainly not been the best of times for investment portfolios.

For the CPA financial advisor who is involved in guiding a client's investment choices, the ups and downs (mostly downs) of the recent past certainly haven't made their job any easier. In the face of jittery markets, increased volatility and, most important, plunging values, keeping clients on track to their financial goals requires a mix of confidence in the soundness of previously established plans and flexibility in the face of unprecedented changes, to say nothing of a certain amount of firmness.

Fortunately, much of the worst of the recession is behind us, and investors in general seem to be growing more comfortable, and less likely to panic.

A recent survey of 1,001 investors by the Center for Audit Quality found that 68 percent of respondents had at least some confidence in the U.S. capital markets - still off from 2007's pre-recession 84 percent, but in line with a "new normal" level of confidence around 70 percent. Encouragingly, confidence was higher among respondents with more than $100,000 to invest, at 74 percent.

Better still, of respondents who use a financial planner, advisor or broker, 86 percent found their advice at least somewhat useful, and close to half (46 percent) found it very useful.

That level of influence has helped CPA financial advisors help their clients to stick to their investment strategies.

STICK TO THE PLAN

BDMP Wealth Management, for instance, "has not altered investment strategies on a global basis in the wake of the recent economic downturn," said Barbara Appleby, a principal at the Portland, Maine-based affiliate of CPA firm Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker.

Nor has Citrin Cooperman Wealth Management: "We generally adhere to Modern Portfolio Theory, and we are not so-called 'market timers,'" said David Bruckman, managing director at the firm, which has offices in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. "While we make adjustments to clients' portfolios, modify a client's target asset allocation or change specific investments, the recent downturn, if anything, reinforced our belief in the soundness of diversification."

Jack Gibbs, president of Fortress Financial Group, in Ashland, Ore., reported that they haven't changed their investment strategies in reaction to the recession: "We believe that the expected time frame for using the money should be the main driver for the investment allocation decision."

Having a strong, coherent investment strategy in place can certainly help keep clients in line, but it doesn't hurt if they keep a cool head.

"In general, our clients, though certainly concerned, have not panicked," reported BDMP's Appleby. "Only a few have put all their invested assets in cash or other fixed-income vehicles. Many have reduced the percentage of equities in their portfolios, often based on our recommendations, as the market recovered."

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