Robert Laura
Robert Laura
RETIREMENT ADVISOR
For example , if I asked you to think about one or two things that you didn ’ t want to regret three years from now , what would they be ? One response might be , “ I don ’ t want to regret not spending more time with an aging parent .” Another could be , “ I don ’ t want a health concern to spiral out of control .” And yet another might be , “ I don ’ t want to miss out on visiting a place I always wanted to go .”
From such responses , you can easily make out what someone treasures — whether it ’ s their family , wisdom , health , longevity , self-care or adventure .
The next step is even more important : When you turn the fear of regret
around and come up with an action plan . It ’ s empowering to turn fear into specific and written goals , things you can accomplish in a certain time frame .
This can make a big impact in your own life as well as your clients ’— because it means you ’ ve turned off autopilot . This exercise disrupts your normal thought patterns , fosters doubt about your current activity and allows you to begin to move from doing to being . Writing down a goal , rather than just contemplating it , is key to this approach . Not only does it improve your chances of achieving it , but you begin to think of solving problems and overcoming challenges holding you back .
Think about the ads on social media . Have you ever noticed that when you begin to search for something like a tent or garden statue that the ads for those things pop up in all your feeds ?
The concept is called “ remarketing ,” and sites like Facebook use the cookies from other pages you ’ ve visited to decide which ads to display . Your brain works the same way . It wants to find and display what you ’ re thinking about and focusing on .
Remember , this is all about getting clients to see from a fresh perspective . You might not even approach it as a pressing problem you need for them to solve . It ’ s just a matter of giving clients a “ nudge ,” as they might say in behavioral economics . But it ’ s the kind of innovation every financial firm will have to consider eventually , because clients are
The beauty of going off script is that you also enjoy flexibility and options , because you ’ re not bound to the current game plan .
looking for professionals who can talk about more than money .
I am regularly asked what retirement coaching is or what a retirement coach does . In its simplest form , it ’ s all about normalization , context and permission — in other words , letting people know they aren ’ t alone if they feel they ’ re in a void and letting them know it ’ s OK if they want to go off script . They might be where they are because they haven ’ t stopped to question where they ’ re at , how they got there or where they go now . Retirement coaches can help them understand that and then let them know it ’ s time to consider some new direction , even if it goes against what others may think or say .
We recently conducted research on these issues at the Retirement Coaches Association . More than 90 % of retirees in a survey we conducted said that financial advisors should be helping clients prepare for the non-financial aspects of retirement . ( Consider that slightly fewer , 85 %, said it ’ s their company HR departments that should be helping in this area .)
Another important discovery we made was about pre-retirees : Just over 50 % of this group said advisors should be helping them with non-financial issues . Compare that with 90 % of retirees , and we ’ ve found a huge gap — 40 % of the respondents who have no idea about the freight train of retirement that ’ s about to hit them . Eventually , they ’ ll be left wondering why retirement doesn ’ t feel like they thought it would .
To deal with so many unprepared people , advisors will need to go off script too — by committing to additional training , using new tools , hiring trained staff or finding other professionals who will refer clients to them . But the beauty of going off script is that you also enjoy flexibility and options , because you ’ re not bound to the current game plan . There aren ’ t a lot of rules , so you can let the new ideas evolve and take shape over time .
Remember , your financial ad-libs don ’ t have to be big , bold , extreme or overanalyzed . Smaller gestures can do the trick . ( The famous movie lines we talked about earlier usually amounted to a couple of unscripted moments per 90-minute movie .) If your clients prefer structure and consistency in their lives , these ideas won ’ t necessarily take them out of their comfort zone , at least not for too long .
One of my favorite unscripted cinema moments was Bill Murray improvising his character ’ s response to getting slimed in Ghostbusters , when he said , “ I feel so funky .” Which is exactly how I hope you feel after reading this : I hope it prompts you to look for ways to improvise in your business and dealings with clients .
ROBERT LAURA is a best-selling author , nationally syndicated columnist and the president of Wealth & Wellness Group . He is a seasoned conference speaker and corporate trainer and the founder of the Retirement Intelligence Assessment , which focuses on the non-financial aspects of life after work . He can be reached at rl . robertlaura @ gmail . com .
18 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JULY / AUGUST 2023 WWW . FA-MAG . COM