Helping Your Clients See the Light

Mitch Anthony

Before you do the important work of crunching the numbers for your clients’ new retirementality, you’ll want to help them crunch some numbers regarding life itself. I have prepared the Retirement Life Profile for this purpose (available free at www.newretirementality.com) so you and your clients can measure where they are now against where they’d like to be by looking at four categories:  visioning, balance, finding meaningful work, and s-aging.  The ultimate goal is that you will help your clients create a life on purpose, with purpose.  If your clients don’t know where they want to be, it doesn’t matter how much financial planning you do for them, they won’t get there. 

Visioning

Your clients shouldn’t think about retiring from something but instead to something. This thought has surfaced again and again in my research as a hallmark of a successful life in retirement versus one that is not successful.  In fact, it has been underscored recently by the MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey: “Unexpectedly large numbers of boomers are looking for purpose-driven jobs that provide them with both means and meaning.” Those who are thinking of retiring from something but have no clear vision of where they want to go, will most likely end up going nowhere.  In fact, I’m not sure any of us should be thinking about completely retiring!  While sipping martinis by the pool, or playing golf five days a week may sound like a grand life right now, after a month or two, your clients will wish they were back at the office.  I’ve heard from scores of people who thought they wanted a life of ease, but instead got a life of boredom.  Helping your client create a vision of what they want the rest of their life to look like is a critical part of that client’s New Retirementality.

Finding Balance

              Did you know that every single person, from the multi-millionaire to the person with little beyond social security has the same amount to spend in retirement? That’s correct; they all have exactly 168 hours per week in their account. No matter how much money your client has, if they do not have a plan for capitalizing on their time they will not enjoy their money or life.

I’m sure many of your clients (and probably you) have felt like life was just moving too fast, like they just needed a little more time for themselves or their families. I have found that many people who were workaholics their entire life find that they have forgotten how to enjoy themselves and how to live a life that balances work and play, and silence and activity.

We all need balance in our lives, whether we wake up each day thinking, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this,” or daydream about being a thousand miles away.   Work may always be part of your client’s life—and that’s not such a bad thing—but they also need more.  Taking time out to reconnect with one’s passions, enjoy a new experience, or spend time with family and friends is the yin to work’s yang.

Finding Meaningful Work: Collecting a Playcheck Instead of a Paycheck

What your client spends his or her life doing should be fulfilling to them, period.  If it’s not, you need to help them take responsibility, and commit to making a change.  You need to help that client go from collecting a paycheck to collecting a playcheck. Life is simply too short to settle for a lukewarm existence.  If they are not spending their time doing something they find fulfilling, it’s time for that client to make a career transformation.  While I’m not suggesting you become your client’s career counselor, you are in a position to make a difference.

From Aging to S-Aging

The final cornerstone in preparing to succeed for the rest of your life is to shift from simply aging (getting old) to successful aging (s-aging). During one of my daughter’s dance recitals I watched a 96 year old woman doing Latin dances. I asked her how she did it. Her answer was, “I’ve never stopped dancing.” I heard the same answer from a 70 something man shooting baskets at the local gym.

These people and others like them are our retirementors, showing us how to live with vitality and vigor for the rest of our lives. We stay young in mind, body and spirit by staying active in mind, body and spirit.

              Successful aging is all about attitude.  I bet you know someone who is 80 years old, but acts like they’re half their age, and vice-versa.  You’re only old when you think you are.  S-Aging is all about knowing what it takes to keep going—both mentally and physically—by challenging yourself every day of your life.  Just because your client isn’t 20 years old doesn’t mean they can’t be curious, challenged, connected, creative and charitable.  All it takes is the right mind-set. S-Aging is all about thriving, not just surviving.

Adapted from The New Retirementality:  Planning Your Life and Living Your Dreams…at Any Age You Want by Mitch Anthony (©2008 Mitch Anthony.  Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)

Mitch Anthony is the founder and president of Advisor Insights Inc. and The Financial Life Planning Institute, training companies serving advisors and the financial services industry. He is the author of several books for advisors including the StorySelling for Financial Advisors.  His newest book, From the Boiler Room to the Living Room:  What the Coming Revolution in Financial Services Means to You and Your Clients will be published by John Wiley & Sons later this year.  Anthony is a contributing editor for Research magazine and his column “Financial Life Planning” appears in Financial Advisor magazine. He has been a named a “Mover & Shaker” by Financial Planning magazine and is frequently quoted by the media as an expert on financial life planning. His radio feature, The Daily Dose, is heard every day on approximately 200 radio stations nationwide. 

Contact him at mitch@mitchanthony.com

© 2008 Mitch Anthony