Environmental wellness
There is nothing more important to an aging person than to be safe and comfortable in their home. Familiar and manageable surroundings are a buffer against the chaos and noise of age. Being able to feel safe and independent is a function of the mind but also the physical surroundings of a home. How will you age, where will you age and what can you do to ensure you are comfortable?
Many clients will not be able to afford the “wellness” they desire. But many could significantly improve their chances of success by planning now. The rub of most planning is that it can be too abstract and not reflect better those most personal issues of “wellness.” I’d like to propose a “wellness” interview. At the very beginning of any in-depth planning, let’s first capture the preferences, concerns and hopes of our clients. Challenge them about their expectations and help guide them to realistic solutions. This work is about the most important you can do as an advisor, and it cannot be done by a machine.
“Financial wellness” is then a financing program to achieve the personalized objectives of “wellness.” The relevance of the plan is grounded in very real feelings and not an abstract market index. Simple. And it opens the door to different kinds of products that leverage assets. Insurance and annuity products in particular have much more potential when applied to wellness objectives, and these things remain underrepresented in many financial solutions. More on that soon. In the meantime, you must engage clients and prospects, family and friends on the topics of “wellness.” You may be surprised by how quickly they bite.
Steve Gresham is the chairman of Whealthcare Planning, LLC, senior education advisor to The Alliance for Lifetime Income and the author of The New Advisor for Life. He was the head of Fidelity’s Private Client Group. See more at thegreshamco.com.