Don’t get me wrong, the money has a role, but its secondary to the more personal aspects of planning. It’s something I was fortunate to learn early on in my career and has become a prophecy that continues to ring true with more converts figuring it out each day. In other words, the future of retirement planning needs to go beyond just the dollars and cents.
Which brings me to my most important point. Older advisors need to usher in a new era of retirement planning— one where the financial aspects are integrated with the mental, social, physical and even spiritual components of life. The most powerful component to this is that older advisors, not only have the time and resources to do this, but there is something inside all of them that is trying to make its way out. This is the secret I alluded to at the beginning of the article. Seasoned advisors who have eclipsed their career goals and aspirations are feeling this deep-rooted need to go in a new direction… to make a difference and have a bigger impact, just like many of their retired clients who are at this point in life as well.
It’s a natural evolution in retirement planning because we are all programed to ask, “What’s next?” or “What now?” It’s why I am feverishly trying to finish my new platform and book, The New Era Of Wellth Management. I’m talking about a newly integrated, industry approach for advisors who see and understand the value of all around wellness, rather than just being stewards of money.
The simple truth is that as advisors look at their own plans for retirement, they don’t want to be done. They want more and feel they are still at top of their game. They enjoy the client interactions, but see the need to impart more than financial advice. They want to infuse coaching, psychology and advice for living well rather than just accessing risk tolerance or completing a one-time goals and dreams workbook.
It’s a powerful transformation when we become the people we serve because it fosters new ideas and change. And because of the size, scope and capacity of this group, the opportunity to develop a truly integrated approach to retirement planning is well within reach.
Just as financial professionals have ushered in the current era of retirement planning where people are instructed to save early and often, we need to update the message. The new approach to Wellth Management must include a regular investment into a life outside of work, strengthening relationships with family and friends, keeping mentally and physically fit, as well as staying spiritually grounded. It’s an ongoing process and need that can give purpose and value to why clients are saving as well as the legacies they hope to leave.
Overall, aging advisors have done an amazing job getting themselves, their clients and even our industry to this point. But now it’s time to accept the challenge to follow the deep-rooted tug to do more and be more beyond the financial aspects. Your clients will thank you, the industry will change as a result of you, and who knows, maybe even Mom and Dad will say, “I told you to follow what’s in your heart.”
Robert Laura is the president of SYNERGOS Financial Group, the founder of RetirementProject.org and pioneer in Certified Retirement Coach training. He is speaking at Financial Advisor's Inside Retirement conference in Las Vegas on September 26 and can be reached at [email protected].