What if clients had to audition for retirement like in the shows The Voice or America’s Got Talent? Or what if they had to pitch their plans to a group of experts like Shark Tank? In other words, clients would have to be approved, or sent through to the next phase of their life instead of just heading in that direction and hoping for the best. 

Can you imagine what someone like Mr. Wonderful or Simon Cowell might say if they didn’t think someone was adequately prepared?

“You’re dead to me, you’ll never make it.”

“My ears are bleeding from that, just go back to where you came from.” 

Or how might a client feel if they shared their retirement hopes and dreams but no one turned their chair around.  Blake Shelton or Kelly Clarkson might be more sympathetic, but the message would still be the same: You’re not ready. 

You have to admit, it’s a pretty funny idea and would be a perfect Saturday Night Live skit. But let me push the issue a little farther because I feel the idea of putting more parameters around people before they make the big jump could be extremely beneficial. 

Take Shark Tank for example. One of the greatest things that this show has done is taught people how to think like a business owner. Contestants need to be able to appropriately value their business, discuss sales, costs, margin, marketing and more. 

The people who come in prepared to cover these things tend to do much better. Which is interesting because now that the show is in its 10^th season, all that someone would need to do in order to improve their odds is watch a few past shows to get a grasp of what they are looking for and position their company in such a way.

Everyone knows the first question from the sharks is, “What are your sales?” Which is followed by questions about costs, distribution deals, patents and plans for the new money. It really isn’t rocket science, but it seems that on every episode, someone shows up without a clue to this. They simply hope their idea is so good, or that they are so convincing that the sharks will just jump on board without any of the essential elements that got them to where they are. 

Ironically, the same thing can play out as people enter retirement. They show up to your office without a hint of all the things it’s going to take to be successful at this new phase of life. Yes, they may have a good answer to what their sales are in terms of how much money they have saved for retirement, but few people can nail down the real costs of retirement in terms of what they will lose when they leave work. 

This is important because the reason that people go to the Shark Tank or The Voice is because they are looking for expert help. They have either taken their singing career as far as they can go or pushed their business to one level but need to get to the next tier. So, they call on a group of experts to evaluate what they are doing, and if it’s in line, support them. 

What’s interesting, especially about Shark Tank is that it’s not just about money. It’s about knowledge, experience, connections and working together. And right now, that’s the problem with traditional planning. It still focuses too much on the financial aspects, which in turn causes people to show up at our offices indecisive or unclear about their plans for retirement. 

Recently, I had a meeting with a guy who was an engineer and was thinking about retirement. According to his wife, he’s been threatening to retire for close to three years but is always changing his mind. She’s sick of his on again off again retirement plan, and so she brought him to me.

Engineers are a fun group to work with because stereotypically, they are number crunchers and have a spreadsheet for everything. So, after our initial discussion and review of their documents I said, “I assume you ran your own numbers, so I’d be curious to know what they said?”

He looked surprised that I knew his little secret, as he glanced over to his wife to check to see if she had told me, but her glance back said, “You’re on your own with this one.”

Cautiously he muttered, “Well…I did run some numbers.”

I’m thinking, “No kidding, I have never met an engineer who didn’t run the numbers before coming in.”

He continued on, “Well one program said I had a 98 percent success rate.”

So, I smiled and said, “That’s great…So why you are still hesitant to retire?”

He didn’t have an answer. In fact, he just slumped in his chair.

So, I shared, “It’s okay, and you’re not the first person to sit in my office and struggle with such an important decision. The problem is that you are trying to make one of the biggest decisions of your life based on money alone and that will never give you the answer you want or need. In fact, it is one of the best ways to make sure you will fail at it.”

That last statement is what I want echoed on national TV: “The problem is that you are trying to make one of the biggest decisions of your life based on money alone and that will never give you the answer you want or need. In fact, it is one of the best ways to make sure you will fail at it.”

This is important because it gives us the opportunity to create a new era of panel experts that we can offer our clients as they move toward, and through retirement. Just as each shark or celebrity judge has unique experience, knowledge and connections, we need to offer our clients something similar.

We don’t need to be, and shouldn’t be, the sole judge of someone heading into retirement. The panel should include a career coach, retirement coach, business coach and even a spiritual leader.

Career coaches can be essential to a retirement decision because I have found that some people don’t actually want to quit working. They are just tired, bored or frustrated with their current position or the people around them and feel their only option is to retire. 

They may prefer to be re-assigned or change roles in order to have a positive impact on others. But they let old and outdated norms about retirement creep in and they decide to retire because they are 62 or 65 instead of seeking late stage career advice.

Certified retirement coaches are experts at helping people plan for the non-financial aspects of retirement. They are trained to talk to people about what everyday life is going to look like. This is important because many people enter retirement with vague ideas and assumptions and find themselves lost, missing colleagues and deadlines. And it’s confusing because retirement is supposed to be the best time of their life, but they feel alone, bored, and worse, they don’t know who to talk to about it.

It’s also common for people to consider starting some sort of a business in retirement. Well starting a business in retirement is very different than starting one when you’re 30 or 40. Older entrepreneurs are looking for a way to turn a hobby or passion into some part-time cash flow. It’s not a business they need in order to survive or pay their mortgage, and they want some flexibility baked into the plan. Once again, a business coach can help people get more specific and start to develop a plan before they retire and still have access to resources and people.

The idea of adding a spiritual leader to the panel may not resonate with some advisors or clients, but here’s the real deal. The only guarantee that comes with retirement is that people will die during it. I know it sounds like the perfect conversation to avoid, but it’s time to stop skirting important conversations about life in retirement. 

As we age, we tend to lose more family and friends, have bouts with illness or injuries that can alter our lifestyle, or we see others dealing with these issues. Which makes it more important than ever to have a spiritual foundation on which to lean on. 

Now I’m not saying advisors should tell clients to attend religious services, pray every day or meditate in a hot yoga tent. Instead, I think its important to say to clients that a successful transition from work life to home life means you need to have a plan to address the mental, physical, social, financial and spiritual aspects during this next phase of life. That may mean the best approach to retirement may be in the form of a shark tank or live audition. 

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].