Some unprepared clients are embracing the secret as an answer to their prayers.

    If you haven't at least heard of The Secret by now-much less read the book or watched the DVD-then you're spending too much time in the office. Oprah Winfrey has touted the book by Australian writer Rhonda Byrne on her daytime talk show, and The Secret has occupied the No. 1 hardcover advice spot on The New York Times best-seller list for more than 38 weeks as of this writing.
Here's a quick synopsis for the uninformed: The Secret goes back many centuries and has been known by many famous people, from Aristotle to Einstein, as well as modern-day "gurus" like Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul), Bob Proctor (LifeSuccess Productions) and Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations with God).

The basis of the secret is the "Law of Attraction," which states that whatever is going on in your mind, you're attracting to yourself. Therefore, think thoughts of abundance and wealth and let no contradictory thoughts in and you can have anything you want. For example, saying to yourself, "I feel really bad about all of this debt I've got," will just get you more debt, or saying, "I can't handle all this work," will just produce more work than you can handle.

In the other hand, thinking about checks appearing in your mailbox instead of bills will bring money. In the DVD, a boy thinks about a new bicycle and it shows up on his porch the next day. Well, almost. It's not enough to just think about what you want (and not think about what you don't want); you must do two other things: feel and visualize the thing of your desire, and do so with great passion. Wait a minute ... how do you feel a new car or house? Simple-go test-drive that car or look at that model house. The triumvirate of passionately thinking, feeling and visualizing is the key to using the Law of Attraction to your advantage. The message is: "Ask, believe and receive."
Do you need to do anything else according to The Secret? No, and therein lies the potential problem for your clients. It's precisely the wrong message to the wrong people at the wrong time.

Think about it. Many baby boomers grew up in the '60s exploring all manner of mystical thought systems. The boomer generation is largely responsible for the current widespread popularity of alternative healing practices like acupuncture and Reiki. It's an open-minded generation. And that's a good thing, except for the fact that there's a thin line between being open-minded and being gullible.
So a thinking person has to question The Secret. But how straight will some boomers be thinking when they pounce on The Secret as a means of capturing the wealth they failed to accumulate during their working lives?

"I don't believe the universe hands you a darn thing except opportunity, while The Secret is about getting stuff by wishful thinking," says Susan Schreiner of Schreiner Financial Solutions in La Mesa, Calif. She relates the story of a friend who, after watching The Secret, unexpectedly quit her well-paying job with excellent benefits to go into real estate. "I'm fairly blunt with my friends and had been extremely vocal for years about the coming real estate crash. Thus, I had tried to talk her out of becoming a realtor."

Of course, says Schreiner, their local real estate market died soon after-right around the time her friend was finding the real estate business to be "corrupt and greed-filled," so much so the friend no longer wanted to engage in that profession. At the same time, her personal and financial life suffered further tragedy, bringing her the opposite of what she'd wished for.

"I was floored by how two people could watch the exact same program and come out with such different messages," says Schreiner. I heard, 'Believe in yourself and watch for opportunity.' She heard, 'Believe in the universe and everything will be delivered to you easily, just as you deserve.' This is a dangerous message for the growing percentage of our population who believe wealth should be handed to them and they should not have to work, struggle or live below their means to earn it."

What would promoters of The Secret say upon hearing this story? I believe, after both reading the book and watching the DVD, they'd probably say the friend made the mistake of thinking about those negative things she thereupon attracted to herself.
Michael Horwitz, Ph.D., CFP, a former therapist and now the owner of Life Strategies Financial Planning in Austin, Texas, says, "The premise of The Secret seems to be a New Age variant of The Power of Positive Thinking [by Norman Vincent Peale] or Émile Coué's autosuggestion, 'Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better.' The problem I have with all of these techniques or philosophies, besides the fact that they usually don't work as advertised, is that they encourage a 'blame the victim' mentality where the poor, sick or unsuccessful are perceived as responsible for their own plight due to 'negative thinking.'" In other words, says Horwitz, The Secret's message implies you can't blame family background, unlucky life circumstances or societal neglect if you suffer hardships, and don't expect society or its members to take any responsibility either.

Yet, even when boomers do take responsibility for their future, their plans lack realism. Lee Eisenberg, author of the best-selling The Number: What Do You Need For the Rest of Your Life and What Will It Cost? (Free Press, December 2006) about boomers' failure to plan to have enough, says, "Over and over I hear from advisors that many clients grossly underestimate how much it will take to realize their vision of the kind of retirement they dream about, or would even settle for. When you subtract a couple of hundred thousand dollars that should be set aside for health care alone, a person used to living 'comfortably' will be skating on thin ice with 'just' $500,000, or somewhat north of that. Sadly, being 'a millionaire' simply ain't what it used to be. When we were young, to be a millionaire was the stuff of daydreams. Now, given longer lives, even moderate inflation (for now), and our acquired taste for 'lifestyle,' even a million doesn't go very far, although it retains a pleasant echo."  In other words, many boomers are already delusional about what it will cost to support their futures even before they hear about The Secret, which can only make matters worse.

Advisor Sean Monohan, a partner at Certified Financial Strategies of Dallas, certainly has had experience with those kinds of clients. "I continually have prospective boomer clients that have saved a few hundred thousand dollars ($200K-$300K) come in for some retirement planning advice, expecting to retire in five years on their current lifestyle," Monohan says. "All are shocked when I let them know they will either need to work longer (well into their 60s), reduce their lifestyle significantly, or a combination of both. It can be challenging to get many of them to address the issue in practical terms, such as reviewing their budgets to save more, reassess their retirement lifestyle, or decide to work five to ten more years."

One example is a couple who are in their early 50s, saved $250K, wants to retire in five years and travel significantly through their 60s. After running the calculations, I explained their most realistic plan would be to work until 65, reduce their lifestyle by 40% and increase savings by $15K-$20K a year. After a couple of months of discussions, they are both still absorbing the change in their retirement expectations, but are beginning to come around. Many don't even get to the stage of taking action."

Yet, perhaps there is some truth to The Secret. It's certainly better to be of positive mind and to visualize your goals than to not do these things. "I have a business owner client who, using The Secret's message, began to look more positively at his business," says Timothy Maurer, director of financial planning for The Financial Consulate Inc. of Lutherville, Md. "He stopped looking at it solely for himself and began to think about how he could benefit others around him. His business is now expanding and the future looks bright. His is a case where the parts of The Secret that sank into his consciousness have had a visibly positive impact on his life, his business and even his bottom line."
Arthur Cooper of Cooper McManus in Irvine, Calif. credits The Secret as a way "... for those who see it for what it is, to look at life in a positive, focused, balanced and purposeful way. It will help people recognize opportunities and solutions to help them achieve their goals and objectives. Why do some people, no matter how great the opportunities, always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and 'things' just keep happening to them, while others, no matter how bad the obstacles and challenges life presents them, seem to come out on top and achieve success? I believe that the difference is in the mind."
R    obert Horowitz of Robert V. Horowitz LLC in Corte Madera, Calif., agrees there are positive aspects to The Secret: "With one particularly fretful client who read the book, I bring it up often, saying, 'Remember what you told me about The Secret? If you focus on what can go wrong, you will attract that into your life. Start putting your attention on what is going right in your life.'  It's almost magical how that simple statement can transform an entire conversation with this client."

Yet Maurer is still troubled by The Secret. "The movie views like an infomercial for a get-rich-quick scheme." he says. Indeed. In one segment of the DVD, Jack Canfield ("America's Success Coach" and the founder and CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises Inc.) says, "Since I learned The Secret and started applying it to my life, my life has truly become magical-the kind of life everybody dreams of: I live in a $4.5 million mansion, I have a wife to die for, I get to vacation in all the fabulous spots of the world and all of this happened and continues to happen because of knowing how to apply The Secret."

Maybe it's necessary to hype The Secret in this manner to get the word out to a greater audience. But it almost makes you wary of criticizing The Secret because if you don't believe any of this and you say to the universe, "This stuff doesn't work," then it won't, say people like Canfield-an argument that conveniently disposes of all critics.

Aside from its presentation, most critics have trouble with the simplicity of The Secret's message. "I fear that the promise of a positive outcome could lead to some very difficult circumstances down the road," Maurer adds. "When the boomer who throws caution to the wind-along with his dedication to fiscal discipline-gets to retirement with one-third of what he needs to actually retire, it's going to take something more than positive thought to triple his life savings."

Precisely, agree most of the advisors who opined to me on The Secret. "When I encounter a client who wants to base a financial plan purely on aspirational concepts, such as 'Ask, believe, receive,'" says Monohan, "I ask them if such an approach ever got their kids to pick up after themselves or got their spouse to remember their anniversary?  After such questions are asked and answered-with laughs most of the time-clients realize our daily actions are what accomplish our daily goals, not aspirational concepts or beliefs."

Monohan doesn't deny that aspirational beliefs have a purpose. Such beliefs can help people when they are going through tough times or just having a bad day, he acknowledges. "The overriding point is that aspirational concepts need to be tied to a daily action plan. Such conceptual thoughts or beliefs are only as good as our daily actions," he concludes.

Is this what's missing from The Secret?  It depends on how you define "action." You and I might define it as setting goals, developing a plan to reach those goals, and then executing the plan. This is, after all, what we do for our clients. By contrast, the Rhonda Byrnes of the world would seem to believe that all the action steps you need are already included in their "Ask, believe, receive" philosophy. And the danger is that clients will take it to heart.

"I believe The Secret oversimplifies the concept of the Law of Attraction and offers no concrete guidance as to how to truly achieve your goals," says Molly Balunek with Spero-Smith Investment Advisers Inc. in Cleveland. "It's a well-marketed moneymaker for the authors and publishers because it effectively promises something for nothing. This promise, I think, is a large part of its attractiveness to baby boomers."

Balunek notes clients' investment portfolios won't increase in value simply because they ask, think or believe it will happen. "We have to roll up our sleeves and develop an investment plan, research and select securities, make the investments, monitor the portfolio, evaluate its progress, measure our clients' success and execute a discipline around all of this to keep the plan, the portfolio and the client healthy and thriving."

People who haven't prepared financially for retirement are going to have to make some hard choices about their spending in order to make up some of the lost ground so that they don't have to work until they die, says Balunek. "Other than Social Security, there is no safety net for people who have not saved enough for retirement. 'The Secret' is not a safety net. It's about dreaming, and ignores the work required for accomplishing."

"So many people are looking for an easy way to achieve their goals-better health, more money, etc.," says Tom Adams, CPA, with Mentor Capital Management Inc. in Elmhurst, Ill. "Perhaps they've done a very poor job saving, and now they're 45 years old with very little put away. They're probably more likely to look for the easy way out-playing the lottery or falling for The Secret. I am sure that many of the overweight and unhealthy folks in our country are avoiding the hard work of dieting and exercise, hoping instead that some magical cure will come along that allows them to take a pill and achieve wonderful health. All in all, while it's probably good to have a positive attitude, people are better off thinking realistically."

Of course, many clients who might not put their belief in The Secret instead take a similar approach with organized religion. Says Rich Feight of Creative Financial Design in Lansing, Mich., "I had a client who was very Christian. She gave half of her meager savings to the church believing that 'God will give it back to me tenfold.'  She had recently heard tips about sectors such as energy and ethanol and thought 'God is telling me to invest here.'  Not being one to argue with God, I just did as she requested, making sure she realized this was her choice and that she was responsible for her actions. I eventually had to let her go because she didn't take advice, her assets suffered for it, and I didn't see a future of mutual prosperity."

Whether it's The Secret or thought systems more familiar to us, we must guard against clients getting the wrong message. The Secret is perhaps just a more virulent example of this truth.

Says Lori Embrey of Summit Financial Strategies Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, "This is 'the secret' that has been passed down to me by generations of very successful people: Decide what it is that you want in life, set goals for yourself, make a plan to achieve your goals and work to get there."  Yet, covering her bases, Embrey adds, "If The Secret really does hold true, this is what I plan to order from the 'catalogue of the universe': I am a tall, thin, well-endowed blonde woman who is smart as hell and always gets her way!"  

An independent financial advisor since 1981, David J. Drucker, MBA, CFP, has been an industry influential for many years. Learn about his books, public appearances, Practice Lifecycle, Virtual Office News and the annual Technology Tools for Today Conference at www. DavidDrucker.com.