This is one reason I started the Retirement Wellness Report, a monthly newsletter that advisors can use as their own in order to pull these conversations out from the shadows, away from the school of hard knocks, and into the light, so that they have a powerful influence on the way clients plan for and experience retirement.
It’s all too common hearing about how baby boomers are changing retirement, but advisors are the ones who are best positioned to truly facilitate meaningful change in this area. We currently control it, people turn to us about it, and we have to be prepared to use our influence to make every client’s retirement the best that it can be. In addition to using a newsletter to educate clients, advisors can do a number of things to help clients avoid letting their feelings drive or alter their plans in retirement:
• Expand your centers of influence beyond attorneys and CPAs. Find a personal trainer, therapist, travel club, activities center and life-time learning resource to help fill client’s time, develop new relationships, and keep them mentally and physically fit.
• Pass along the knowledge and experience of existing retirees to other clients. I personally love asking retired clients what they had to learn the hard way, what they wish they were told before they jumped into retirement, and what advice they have for others beginning that journey. It’s not only a great way to strengthen existing relationships with those clients but also a valuable way to provide time-tested guidance to new or struggling clients who are faced with similar situations (and feelings).
• Educate clients that retirement isn’t automatic and takes time as well as practice. As they proceed through it, they’ll learn how to handle different thoughts and emotions just as they did during other phases of life including marriage, children, career changes or purchase of their first home.
• Retrain clients to be proactive in planning for more than just the dollars and cents of retirement. Encourage them to include plans for their body, mind and spirit. Whether it’s reaching out to family and friends instead of just hoping they’ll call, signing up for a yoga or writing class instead of watching TV, or re-branding themselves through volunteer opportunities or non-profit work, retirement requires clients to do exactly what they thought they were leaving behind: Work!
Making the transition into retirement is not easy, and shouldn’t be considered natural. It goes against many of the beliefs and actions it took to get to that point in life. People can no longer just follow their feelings and the accepted social norms to make that transition successful. Advisors need to comprehend, embrace and communicate to clients that some of retirement’s biggest challenges will come from the inside, and that retirement will never feel right unless clients are taking steps to make it that way. It’s all part of the ever-changing retirement puzzle that makes it a journey instead of a destination.
What’s your sense about the role feelings can play in retirement? I’d like to know. Send me an e-mail or share a comment below.
Robert Laura is the creator of the Retirement Wellness Report, co-founder of RetirementProject.org, and author of Naked Retirement. He can be reached at [email protected]. Please connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter @robertlaura.