Knock on wood, fingers crossed and a rabbit’s foot are common superstitions associated with good fortune while breaking a mirror, walking under a ladder or crossing paths with a black cat are linked to bad luck.   Superstitions can take a variety of forms but aren’t typically associated with the retirement transition. In other words, you don’t hear about people breaking wishbones on their last day of work or asking their advisor to round their account balance up if it contains a 13 or 666.

Yet, the reality is, people assume that the odds will favor them in retirement if they reach a certain age and asset level. Like reaching age 65 and a million dollars in savings is a sure bet for a successful retirement, but that’s like assuming Tom Brady won’t throw another touchdown pass against your home team because you’re sitting in a special chair or wearing a certain hat or shirt.

A superstition is defined as a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences or outcomes. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices associated with astrology, fortune telling and paranormal entities. Now, I am not saying financial professionals should look to the stars or dust off that crystal ball for clients nearing retirement, but instead, start looking at additional planning steps and practices that can be linked to a successful transition rather than a supernatural one.

If you think about some common retirement superstitions, they might include:
• Reaching a certain age prepares you for retirement
• Attaining a certain savings level will make retirement better or easier
• Medicare eligibility will save money and cover medical needs
• More time and fewer distractions will enable one to create the life I have always dreamed of

The reality is, a client’s age, portfolio value, debt level, health insurance status or schedule flexibility won’t make them happy, healthy, relevant, loved or better connected nor mean that their new life in retirement is more meaningful or valuable that before.

It’s not rocket science or palm reading because the longer you have been a financial professional the more instances you have seen where a client has their four-leaf clover of age, money, insurance and time but aren’t closer to family and friends, following that exercise routine they planned to in retirement, have put their skills and abilities on a shelf, and are watching too much TV news.

It’s interesting because I think one of the biggest factors that both professionals and clients miss about life after work is the fact that retirement doesn’t eliminate work, it simply reorients it. Meaning, yes, clients don’t have to get up and go to work and muster through boring staff meetings or deal with an annoying boss, co-worker or timeline. However, they need to do specific things to ensure their health, happiness and relationships that take an equal if not more amount of work and effort than their work before.

I would be remiss, if I didn’t disclose that I have a few of my own superstitions. In fact, one survey suggests I am not alone as approximately 44% of U.S. adults are superstitious to some degree with 9% of those respondents saying they are very superstitious. The psychology of superstitions is that the thoughts and behaviors we indulge in are ways to soothe anxiety or prepare our brains to deal with a situation. They’re more like habits that help give us the perception that we have some influence or control over unrelated events.

Some specific research on superstitious behavior in sports showed that even though superstitious beliefs don’t necessarily connect to better outcomes for athletes, the placebo effect or belief that they did was enough to make it worth believing. Furthermore, according to the American Psychological Association, many people know that their superstitious rituals or beliefs don’t really play a role in a specific outcome, but that doesn’t mean that they’re ready to let go of them.

The same holds true for retirement. As an industry, we don’t want to let go of the idea that saving a certain amount of money or being protected with insurance aren’t going to play a role in a successful retirement outcome, but if we can combine these beliefs and rituals with other factors that can have a direct impact on a client’s health, happiness and connections, than we are leaving less to fate and hope.

The process for doing this can be fairly simple, straightforward, and does not require much more than some company letterhead and a few lines of text including a place for clients to write their answers.

Questions such as:
• What does a perfect day and week look like in retirement?
• What aspects of your life have you had to put on hold due to your work and career life?
• In retirement you will gain time and freedom, but what aspects will you be losing in the transition?
• What things are you planning to do in retirement that you’re not doing right now for your health?
• What three to five goals do you want to accomplish in your first few months of retirement?

The opportunity here is threefold. First, these questions are designed to get clients thinking about their everyday life in retirement. Too often people approach retirement with a variety of vague ideas and assumptions. They think just because they are no longer working that things will magically fall into place and they will have purpose, direction and fulfillment simply by being able to wake up on their own and by having the option to do whatever they want throughout the day, which would be similar to thinking that carrying a horseshoe everywhere in retirement would provide good luck. Therefore, by having clients take the time to think about it and actually write it down, we move away from hope and fate to concrete ideas and strategies.

Second, one of the most powerful benefits of planning for the financial side of retirement is that clients get to take it with them into retirement, they don’t wait until they get there to figure it out. Let me explain. It’s common for people to say that they are going to work out more, eat better, spend more time with family and volunteer for impact once they retire. 

But that’s just talk, there’s no real foundation here and they assume they will have the health, energy and motivation to work out more, that family wants to spend time with them after they have spent all their time working, and that volunteering a few hours a week somewhere will give them similar purpose and direction that aspects of their work provided.  

It's sort of like a client implying, they are going to start saving for retirement once they are retired. It makes no sense, but financial professionals regularly let clients walk out of their office thinking they are ready to retire but only have a written plan and direction for the financial side of things.

Finally, you don’t have to ask everyone who comes into your office all of these questions. Start with one client to see how it feels and flows, then build on that momentum. So often when I talk about integrating the non-financial side of retirement planning into the conversation, advisors think they need to rework their entire process and develop new content and material. But you don’t. You just have to care enough to ask one person. That’s it!

That being said, while this is a good list of initial questions to start with, the opportunity to help your clients plan beyond the dollars and cents is the next frontier in financial services, and it’s not only rewarding for them but also for you. Primarily because you are giving them specific things to do in retirement, goals to work on and achieve, and existing routines to develop for health, relationships, and personal well-being.

All things that are going to better position them compared to someone who has just reached traditional retirement age, saved enough not to work and is protected by various insurances. The reality is, you need a written plan for both the financial and non-financial aspects if you want to take superstition out of the retirement equation.

This is the new narrative for retirement and why a premium will continue to be placed on financial professionals who not only have the training and expertise in this area but also the tools and skills to help clients retire with the a realistic approach rather than their fingers crossed and a lucky rabbit’s foot in their pocket.

Robert Laura is a best-selling author, nationally syndicated columnist and president of Wealth & Wellness Group. He is a seasoned conference speaker, corporate trainer, and founder of The Certified Professional Retirement Coach Designation which focuses on the non-financial aspects of life after work. He can be reached at [email protected].