Two years ago, few tech investors thought they'd watch an Internet bubble burst. Fewer close-to-retirement workers thought they'd have to keep working. And no one thought they would be afraid to open their mail.

        In the fast-changing world, local financial advisers say they are facing changing questions and concerns from their clients — some even transcending their financial well-being.

        Even before Sept. 11 and the subsequent anthrax scare, investors' sense of financial security had been shaken by the longest broad market decline in stock prices in almost 30 years.

        For a generation, it's the first bear market they've ever known. In the words of one local financial adviser, investors' sentiments have changed by one letter.

        “It's return of principal that they've become more concerned about, instead of return on principal,” said Ed Haberer, president of Haberer Registered Investment Advisors.

        Indeed, many investors witnessing the Nasdaq/New Economy carnage in the past 19 months just want to make sure they don't lose any more. Even the safety of ultra-conservative money market funds has come into question.

        John Bowling, president of Bowling Portfolio Management, agrees that his clients' questions seem to have changed from “How much will the market go up?” to “Will it rise at all?”

        “The biggest issue is, "Where's the bottom?'” said Rik Helton, a senior consultant in Deloitte & Touche's Private Client Advisors Group.

        Nervous, their clients are better at following their advice, the advisers say.

        They are dollar-cost-averaging, where contributing the same amount of money at equal intervals mitigates how volatile stock prices affect a portfolio. They are diversifying, many having seen how dangerous it was to own too many tech stocks. And they are staying put, trusting their experts that stocks will eventually recover.

Fears spread

        ut for many, the financial worries have become less important than personal safety, said Mark Hogan, executive vice president at O'Sullivan, Sims & Hogan, a downtown money manager.

        “What's scaring people is terrorism more than the economy,” Mr. Hogan said. “People have adjusted to the downturn, or else are just numb to it.”

        Jeannette Jones, president of The Asset Advisory Group in Glendale, said such fears have led many of her clients to ask about long-term care and other ways to protect themselves.

        They're also focusing more on estate planning — and making sure their family knows what they've done.

        She recommends people create a Life Book, a document that outlines not only what assets and insurance policies they hold but also where the paperwork can be found.

        “It seems like they're getting their total affairs in order,” Ms. Jones said. “They want to make sure everything is accounted for and is going to be OK.”

        E-mail ahiggins@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/higgins

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