The mindset was that they weren’t necessary and should be optional, with many people assuming, “It will never happen to me.” The same holds true for retirement coaching. People head into retirement assuming it’s no big deal and that everything will just magically work out—that their marriage, relationships with kids, health and social network are all fine and won’t be impacted just because they are no longer working.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Countless times I have shared research on the dark side of retirement that includes growing incidents of addiction, depression and even the highest rates of suicide for some retired males.
Or they find that family and friends aren’t as available as they hoped and find themselves feeling isolated and alone. They are not connected, needed or included in things that previously gave their life meaning and value.
Many people get blindsided by retirement and are left to grieve the loss of their work life, deal with a medical issue or just struggle with finding a new reason to get out of bed.
Fortunately, that’s changing thanks to new research, a growing number of trained professionals, and a paradigm shift by baby boomers who now bear the scars and tragedies for not preparing in these other areas of life in retirement.
It really boils down to advisors finding ways to challenge existing retirement perceptions and adding new skills to help clients make the transition. Back in 1962, everyone believed that Alcatraz was escape proof because that’s what then director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, labeled it. But all that changed the morning of June 12, 1962 when three prisoners did not wake up for the morning count.
In a similar way, people go into retirement expecting it to be a safe and perfect little place, but it can turn out to be something very different. Thoughts that it would be fun, easy and stress free can quickly turn into feeling lonely, sad and irrelevant. For too long retirement has been labeled the wrong way, and it can cost people more than they expect.
The big push for seat belt laws was aided by several things. Police departments added a check box to their accident reports, identifying whether or not victims were wearing a seat belt. Hospital’s began posting the number of fatalities from car accidents, and one medical examiner even went as far as sending legislators gruesome photos of dismembered accident victims.
What’s exciting is that the need to plan for the non-financial aspects of retirement is catching on, but not quite to the point of seat belts just yet. In my home state of Michigan, seat belt use was below 20 percent in 1984, however, it rose to 60 percent shortly after the law went into effect in 1985, and sits somewhere near 95 percent today.
One obstacle facing advisors in this new role is the type of training they receive and their ability to refer to themselves as retirement coaches. Since starting the Certified Professional Retirement Coach Designation, I have been contacted by regulators to either confirm or deny that a particular advisor has received our training.