It’s often said “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” but what about in retirement?  Have you ever wondered why some clients rise above the knee-jerk reaction of a falling market while others panic … or reach new levels of perseverance after a challenging medical diagnosis even as others become hopeless … or adapt to emerging trends and technological advances instead of slowly losing touch and falling behind the curve? The answer is mental toughness, and any advisor who isn’t presenting strategies to help clients gain a psychological edge in retirement is missing the boat.  

Just as the right mindset, training, and actions make for better athletes, business leaders and performers, there’s an undeniable opportunity for advisors to help clients get into a “zone” and achieve optimal retirement.  By helping clients build both mental and financial strength, they can ease the client’s transition into retirement while maximizing potential in the process.  

Three keys to achieving a psychological edge, which advisors can readily adapt to their practice, include:  
•    Mindset
•    Training
•    Emotions

Mindset
How we look at things and what we focus on affects our entire wellbeing and colors how we experience life.  Thus, fostering the right mindset for retirement requires gauging a client’s existing beliefs and attitudes.  In my Naked Retirement workshops, I ask clients to write down three things they believe about retirement.  I hear everything from, “It’s the first step into the grave” to “The best it yet to come.”  On the surface, both may seem commonplace but they represent light years of difference between those most likely to make quick, satisfactory transition and those who struggle.  

Negative thoughts and responses are the most important things advisors need to recognize.  They can be exceedingly detrimental because retirees no longer have the job, co-workers and the like to buffer and insulate themselves from it.  Negative thoughts and feelings can build upon each other and create self-doubt, negative self-talk, and ultimately poor actions, which make for a lackluster retirement at best.  This is particularly true among those forced into retirement.  These victims start out angry, confused and unprepared, and it may take several years before they realize it’s the best thing that could have happened to them.

Advisors need to make clients aware of the role their thoughts and feelings play in their overall retirement plan.  People don’t realize how much of retirement is actually about mental preparation; they can’t assume things will just work out.  Clients need to accept the fact that having a set amount of money or insurance isn’t enough.  They need to understand the entire retirement game, and how their mental, social, and physical world will be impacted by this change.  

Additionally, clients need to be made aware of it on a regular basis.  Just as advisors need to attend conferences, read articles and magazines, as well as interact with each other to stay on top of their game, so do retirees.  That makes it necessary for advisors to be providing more than economic summaries to their clients.  They need to provide education, information, tools, and resources to keep them engaged and thinking positive about life after employment.  

Training
An example of how training can impact a person’s life is revealed in the age old story about the circus elephant tied to a tiny wooden stake by a flimsy rope. We all know the elephant could easily uproot the stake but, because the elephant was trained early on with a heavy steel chain and big metal post, it quickly learned its limits.

Same holds true in retirement. People have been conditioned to believe life is going to be just great when they retire.  But, if they sacrifice the very things that are most important to them along the way, they may soon realize that damage has been done.  Furthermore, the need to save and stay on track financially often leaves voids in their identity.  They’re so focused on what they think they need to do, they forgot who they are and struggle to relax and enjoy life.   

Advisors can – and should – help clients understand the need to break those work chains and create a life that flows naturally from one stage of life to another, instead of hoping to start anew.  Retirement is a keen trickster in that it requires effort and has a tendency to magnify who the person already is.  Stated another way, first we make our habits and then our habits make us.  Retirement has opportunities and limits … and clients need to understand that.  It’s much easier to continue an exercise routine, devote additional time to an existing hobby or passion, or increase the frequency of visits to family and friends, than it is to try and start doing them all at once.   

Emotions
It’s common and comfortable for advisors to talk about investment decisions based on emotions, but what about the role emotions play in other areas of retirement.  Just as we educate our clients on what can and can’t be controlled in the investment process, retirees need to identify and understand the role of emotions in their everyday life.

It doesn’t matter what age a person is, or their occupation, educational background, income, or ethnicity, most new retiree’s failures stem from struggles beyond their control.  Clients should be counseled to focus on what they can control, using their strengths to gain the upper hand.  And they should be reminded not to sweat the small stuff and to stay focused on the long-term results.  It’s an easy concept to discuss with folks since it parallels much of the advice we already give… not to mention it can be communicated as part of a regular newsletter, blog, or workshop.   

Advisors need to awaken clients to these realities and help them direct their emotional energy to the right people, places, and things, as well as find ways to have fun and replenish their tank.  When people are drained, feel pulled in multiple directions, or are stressed because they can’t please everyone, there’s a piper that going to have to be paid.  However, by reminding and encouraging clients to find fun things to do and to be involved in life some emotional meltdowns and disappointments can be avoided.  

One’s emotions can usually be kept in check by seeing beyond the small stuff and by focusing on what’s really important.  Put your clients on an imaginary death-bed and ask what they would regret if they had just a short period of time to live.  How would they focus their remaining time and energy?  By shifting the focus, you can modify their emotional state.

Time stands still for no one, including advisors who want to help clients enter retirement with a psychological edge.  We all want our clients to enter retirement with the “right stuff” and the best way to accomplish this is through a written plan.  Without one, a retiree becomes distracted. Thoughts drift to unproductive and even to negative feelings, which invariably pull them away from more fulfilling activities.  They lose focus, start worrying about things they can’t control, and are eventually robbed of their ability to live the retirement they deserve.  Conversely, a written plan for everyday life provides concrete direction and a path to success.  The written plan is a crucial step to helping clients foster the correct mindset, identifying and letting go of limiting beliefs, and keeping emotions in check.

That makes it critical to help a client’s feel confident and mentally strong about who they are when they’re no longer working.  Give them the resources to recognize the need to fill their time with meaningful tasks. Keep them connected to those who are most important.  And that, ladies and gentlemen, gives both the advisor and client a psychological edge for retirement.  
 

Robert Laura is President of SYNERGOS Financial Group, founder of RetirementProject.org, creator of the Retirement Wellness Report and DividendPaycheck.org, He can be reached at [email protected].