Have you ever heard the saying, “You are what you eat”? If it’s true, I’m a pepperoni pizza. I love pizza and wish I could eat just one or two pieces and walk away, but I can’t. Once that sweet aroma of mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and fresh baked bread hits me, I get consumed by an insatiable desire to have more, and I lose all sense of direction.

Whether your fix is—pizza, ice cream or chips—we all crave certain things and don’t always make the healthy choice. I mean if you put a bowl of chocolate chip cookies next to a veggie tray, guess which direction my hand is headed?

Yet, over time, we have all come to learn that you can’t eat pizza and cookies every day. An unbalanced diet that is high in fat and preservatives is going to catch-up to you at some point. There will be repercussions in terms of your weight, energy level, potential for disease and even your longevity.

So, we have adapted our diet and learned to fight off these natural cravings with substitutes like cauliflower crust pizza and a fruit smoothie. Even though they may not taste as good, we know it’s the right thing to do and that they will benefit our long-term health.

This is important because the things we eat, or are fed, aren’t just about our physical health. The stuff that we consume in terms of what we see, hear and the people we surround ourselves with can also play a role in our long-term health and well-being. This is why it’s so important for advisors to take a look at the things they are feeding clients, especially when it comes to retirement. 

Right now, I believe our industry is serving too many pizzas and cookies. It’s an unbalanced diet focused on saving, investing and protection. We’re essentially telling people that if you just focus on the financial pieces, the rest of the stuff will take care of itself. Yet, there is nothing further from the truth.

Along the way, we are also teaching people to crave the wrong things in terms of money, status and possessions. And just as I get consumed by the smell of pizza and lose all sense of direction, if we don’t teach our clients about the other important ingredients to a successful retirement, they will be faced with a loss of purpose and direction. 

This message is particularly important because now is the perfect time to start offering clients a new menu to eat from. Why?  I don’t know about you, but my favorite time to start a new diet is when I am full. It’s a lot easier to commit to hitting the gym and replacing a meal with a smoothie when my belly is full and I’m feeling satisfied in this area. Sort of like the age-old advice to avoid the grocery store when you’re hungry.

In any event, the current bull market has made it easy for our clients to be financially full. Yes, client’s will always crave a little more in this area but for the most part, many will be ready to commit to some new ideas and direction. This makes it a great time for advisors to introduce new services, resources and ideas to help them strike a better balance with their future life in retirement. 

As a result, advisors have to become advocates for what I call The New Era Of Wellth Management—an approach to financial and retirement planning that incorporates the mental, social, physical and spiritual aspects of life with the financial ones. 

The great thing is that advisors don’t have to reinvent the wheel or go back to school to be a nutritionist or personal trainer. In fact, they can use many of the same concepts that health experts use with their clients.

Education

Any change must start with education. Advisors must seek out and acquire both new knowledge and skills to support clients in transition. I have spent the last 10 years studying the psychology of retirement and have worked with some of the top minds to develop a certification that trains advisors on how to help clients plan for their nonfinancial things. Many people are not only surprised at the depth of content that is covered, but also the skill development required to guide people through many of the life situations that can come up in retirement.

Once advisors are educated, they can in turn begin to discuss the topic with clients and help them take steps to get there. One of my favorite tools I use to bridge the financial conversation to the non-financial topics is my retirement priorities quiz. It’s a simple 10 question quiz that asks people about both their personal and financial life. I’m sure you could guess where the biggest gaps are in their current plans.

Portion Control

The common advice in this area is that a meals portion size should be equivalent to a closed fist. When I first heard this, I can’t tell you how badly I wanted bigger hands. Needless to say, what we teach people is to open their hand and understand that there are five keys areas to a successful retirement transition (one for each finger). They are the mental, social, physical, spiritual and financial.

To give you some context on this, think of someone you know and consider to be a successful retiree—someone who made the transition and seems to be doing better than the average Joe. What we know about these people is that they generally have found a way to:

• Replace their work identity by filling their time with meaningful tasks.

• Stay connected and relevant.

• Keep mentally fit and physically active.

• Express spiritual beliefs.

• Feel financially secure.

A successful retiree will meet four or all five of these things, whereas someone who is struggling with it will only be able to check off one or two. In other words, they feel financially secure but missed the boat on the other things. By managing the portions of time and energy they put into each area, they can strike a better balance as they approach this next phase of life. 

Weight Loss Group Or Contest

Most people start a diet with the best of intentions and plenty of will power. But over time it can be difficult to do it on your own. Which is why support groups, coaches and contests are so helpful for people in accomplishing their diet goals. The same holds true for retirement planning.

This is a benefit for advisors and clients because baby boomers love coming together as a group to talk about and plan for these non-financial things. That makes it easy for advisors to organize workshops and get in front of more people than other methods.

Additionally, it allows advisors to help clients understand the crucial role that a strong support group can play in how well a client does in retirement. There are countless studies that suggest the most important ingredient to a successful and long life in retirement rests with the people you surround yourself with.

I don’t know about you, but all this talk about food is making me hungry. I’m kidding, but it does make me hungry for change. And while there are a host of other analogies we could draw from on this topic, the point is that advisors can use ideas that they already familiar with to facilitate new actions and behaviors in our industry and client lives.

As a final note, it’s worth pointing out that it was back in 1826 when the French physician Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." The more common phrase, "You are what you eat," didn’t show up in the English language until the 1920s when nutritionist Victor Lindlahr began selling a weight-loss diet. In both cases, it was a way of looking at food in a fresh perspective and using it to help people make healthier choices. 

We too need a point in time where people acknowledge that running out of money pales in comparison to running out of family, friends and good health. It’s time for us to move away from traditional retirement planning and into The New Era Of Wellth Management. 

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].