Remember all the predictions about 10,000 baby boomers hitting retirement age every day, and how we should prepare for a tsunami of retirement dollars washing up on the shore?
It’s happening well ahead of schedule, according to a recent study by the Alliance for Lifetime Income (ALI). Every day, 10,000 Americans turn 65, and the ALI study says the rate will grow to 12,000+ per day over the next three years. Jason Fichtner, a senior fellow with ALI, calls it “Peak 65.” And it’s happening in a perfect storm of economic fallout from the pandemic.
“Met with these added pressures, the current model for retirement income security—pensions, Social Security and personal savings—risks collapse under the weight of the Peak 65 generation,” Fichtner says.
The 90,000 advisors we work with tell us retirees consistently ask the same three questions, almost always in the same order: “When should I file for Social Security?”, “How should I handle my rollovers?” and “How do I maximize my retirement income?” They hear these questions far more frequently these days, and the trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon.
And many are retiring earlier than originally planned either by their own choice or that of their employer. According to a recent survey by Allianz Life, more than two-thirds of respondents say they retired earlier than expected, up significantly from the 50% of employees who left the workforce for early retirement last year. Our industry is now scrambling to serve advisors and their boomer clients who need help ASAP.
Early retirements cut into the highest potential earning years for boomers. That means less money in IRAs and 401(k)s. In many cases, it means drawing from Social Security earlier than intended, missing out on the 8% annual “raise” the government offers each year retirees delay filing for benefits. Now add to this the impending double whammy of rising inflation and rising taxes.
Oh, and another thing—the answers you provide and decisions made are irrevocable. Once the path forward is determined, there’s no going back. Paychecks stop. Expenses go on.
Us boomers have had it our way for much of our lives, and we’d like to keep it that way, thank you. But we have complex, messy financial lives, and every day more of us turn to advisors for help. Frankly, spreadsheets and manual calculations won’t cut it for the sheer volume of work ahead of advisors. Not only is it a time-consuming task, there are too many possibilities for error… and the consequences of a mistake are far too steep.
Advisors have never felt more pressure to work with speed, accuracy, and efficiency to solve complicated, individual retirement dilemmas. The good news: we don’t have to wait for wealthtech platform builders to play catch-up. Software exists, today, to help advisors guide retiring boomers through the storm without drowning in the work that must be done.
• “When should I file for Social Security benefits?” We have found that a tech-optimized filing strategy will win an average of $150,000 in additional retirement wealth over 10 years.
• “What should I do with my rollovers?” Software exists to express the dollar benefit of combining taxable and qualified assets with a tax-smart asset location analyzer. The benefits of doing so come out to another $150,000 over a 10-year span.
• “How do I maximize retirement income?” It’s a tall order: advisors must help investors reduce investment costs, maintain the appropriate asset allocation, optimize the withdrawal of Social Security benefits, and consider asset location and the optimal sequence of withdrawals across accounts. One of the biggest advantages of software here is in the sheer time saved - and accuracy—in number-crunching.
One way or another, advisors need to increase their ability to answer these questions, and to save time. This is what your practice will look like for the foreseeable future. The spoils will go to the advisors who can stretch the retirement dollars of boomers farther, handle a heavier workload, and keep clients engaged in a decumulation strategy that maximizes income over the long haul.
Jack Sharry is co-chair of the Money Management Institute’s Digital Advice Community, sits on the Next Chapter Advisory Council, is host of the “WealthTech on Deck” podcast, and is the executive vice president of LifeYield.