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.