One tool I know a variety of advisor's use is simply requesting reprints of articles like this and sharing them with clients. Other strategies could include partnering with a certified professional retirement coach, marriage and family therapist, psychologist or other non-financial retirement expert to deliver this message.
But please make sure they are trained well in this area as more and more people are calling themselves coaches because they have access to some new software or have been trained on a pre-retirement assessment or two. I would also encourage, advisors themselves to get up to speed on all of these non-financial topics, because if clients aren't already bringing them up in discussions with you, then they are talking to someone else about it.
The key is, advisors have an opportunity to re-shape the future of retirement planning by making sure their clients aren't seduced into early retirement based on financial factors alone. Yes, early retirement can be sexy and appealing, but it can also be one of the most dangerous forms of retirement if it doesn't include plans to replace the mental, social and physical aspects of work as well.
Robert Laura is the president of SYNERGOS Financial Group, the founder of RetirementProject.org and pioneer in Certified Retirement Coach training. He can be reached at [email protected].