The whole idea is to help clients examine the elements of retirement and begin to move towards a more ideal, golden mixture by understanding the trade-offs they make each and every day.
What I find most appealing about the concept of alchemy is the fact that it wasn’t rooted in greed. It wasn’t just about financial gain by turning one less valuable thing into something more valuable. Alchemists maintained a belief system that elements were alive and growing towards something. That’s a powerful way to look at client-advisor relationships and can serve as a solid foundation for advisors to use as they experiment with the right tools and communication to help clients create that ideal next stage of life.
While alchemy is long gone, advisors can help clients turn their work life into a successful next phase of life by focusing on all of the elements instead of a select few…and by recognizing the lead in one’s current life can’t be turned into gold simply through the act of retiring. Instead it takes time, effort and continued vigilance to keep things alive and growing in retirement.
Robert Laura is the president of SYNERGOS Financial Group, the founder of RetirementProject.org and the creator of the Retirement Wellness Report and DividendPaycheck.org. He can be reached at [email protected].