The Financial Advisor / Client Disconnect!

Pension plans, RRSPs, estate plans and IPPs are one side of retirement.  These topics are common, but what about a retiree’s shrinking social network and the possibility of loneliness or depression?

Data suggests that while most financial advisors (up to 92-96%) believe they are covering health and lifestyle “soft” topics with their clients, less than half of clients feel these discussions are happening effectively.

Obviously, understanding a client’s values is an essential step in building them a financial plan that will help achieve a client’s retirement goals. So why is this not happening as many clients report?

Likely, financial advisors, though well-intentioned, may not be asking the right questions.

When meeting clients, as an advisor you want to learn the client’s personal and financial situations.  The goal is to hear their story.  One action is to ask your client to take a few minutes to jot down thoughts about their retirement life. Questions may include:

1. Tell me what keeps you up at night?
2. What are you doing in retirement?
3. What are your accomplishments?
4. What’s your overall purpose?
5. How are you spending your money?
6. Who’s is in your retirement picture?
7. How is your health? How do you feel?
8. How are your relationships (spouse/partner, children, other family members)?
9. When you envision retirement what are your needs and wants?
10. Is your retirement going to bring you the satisfaction you desire and deserve?

As your client describes their vision, have your client note what questions come to mind. Brainstorming ideas and solutions can be part of the discussions.  At the end of this process, the client will hopefully have a well-thought-out retirement vision which acts as their anchor and compass for direction and future decisions.

As a financial advisor who realizes what clients need and want, you can help ensure they get retirement right.  As clients shift to being more holistic in their retirement thinking, advisors need to shift and be prepared to meet the demands.

I believe most financial advisors want to engage clients in a partnership that fosters a feeling of mutual success about the work done together.  The advisor who chooses to recognize that retirement is about so much more than money, they engage clients in discussions about time management, health maintenance, relationship enhancing, and other key issues.  As part of a ‘coaching approach’ the advisor assists each client to build a realistic retirement plan and actions to live retirement to its fullest!

For additional information on how best to coach clients, read my book, Coaching Clients for Retirement – A Primer.