By Richard Eisenberg
Financial advisers are trying to help clients with the nonfinancial aspects of retirement
These days, when growing numbers of Americans are retiring and living longer than in previous generations, many of them struggle with the transition to this new life chapter. Research has shown that new retirees often find themselves dealing with depression, boredom or just plain dissatisfaction.
That’s why some financial advisers are starting to help people look holistically at retirement.
They’re still working with clients to boost the chances of not running out of money, of course. But these advisers – sometimes with the assistance of retirement coaches and life coaches – are also sharing insights about carving an identity in retirement, finding meaning and purpose, passing on life lessons to children and grandchildren and avoiding loneliness.
A boutique wealth-management firm in Findlay, Ohio, is about to launch what appears to be the first program to do just that for financial advisers around the country. In July, Hixon Zuercher Capital Management will open a coaching academy with a series of virtual workshops.
A more purposeful second half of life
“We want to help financial advisers help their clients into a more purposeful second half of life,” says Tony Hixon, chief executive of Hixon Zuercher and co-founder of the academy.
For Hixon, it’s personal.
As he wrote in his book, “Retirement Stepping Stones,” Hixon’s mom was a hospice nurse who loved her work but hadn’t thought about where she’d find purpose in retirement. As a result, after leaving her job, she grew depressed and ultimately took her life.
The mission of this program is to prevent retirees from experiencing anything like what happened to Hixon’s mother.
In the workshops, standard financial planning topics like asset allocation, investment diversification and tax planning will not be discussed.
“The financial aspects certainly are important, but there’s an awful lot of people that are lonely, isolated and depressed when they go into retirement,” says Scott Miller, the certified professional retirement coach who leads the workshops. “They struggle with social connections and relationships. They get bored very easily.”
Transitioning to retirement: what people want
Research shows this kind of nonfinancial, purpose-driven help is sorely needed by retirees.
An Age Wave/Edward Jones survey of financial advisers found that 77% of their clients wished there were resources available to help them plan for an ideal retirement beyond just their finances.
The survey also revealed that one-third of new retirees say they have struggled to find a sense of purpose in retirement.
4 pillars for a successful retirement
The coaching program’s 20 video lectures, worksheets and tools will guide advisers through what its instructor – co-founder Scott Miller – believes are the four pillars people need to address for successful retirements:
Rediscover your uniquenessReorient and repurposeSocial connectionsLeave a legacy
Miller also teaches these concepts to anyone signing up for his 2-hour, virtual Refocus on Retirement workshop.
The foundational pillar “really answers the questions of: Who am I? What are my values? What’s important to me?” says Miller, who spent 32 years as a dentist before becoming a retirement coach.
The reorient and repurpose pillar is about taking the next step and creating a retirement vision for yourself. I think of this as finding your Ikigai – the Japanese term for the reason to get up in the morning.
The social connections pillar is about keeping and building relationships in retirement to avoid becoming isolated or lonely.
In the leaving a legacy pillar, the advisers won’t be learning about wills, trusts or other elements of estate planning that generally come into play after you die.
“This pillar is the concept of not planning so far in advance that you miss the opportunities to make an impact in your world today, to be a blessing to others, to send a note of encouragement, to build a legacy into your kids’ or grandkids’ lives,” says Hixon.
Will financial advisers get it?
Will financial advisers grasp the importance of learning about the nonfinancial aspects of retirement so they can pass on the knowledge to their clients? More important, will the training, which runs 2 1/2 hours and costs $799, be enough to provide value to their clients, get them to look at retirement holistically and make this life transition less fraught?
It’s too soon to say.
Hixon expects advisers at small- and medium-size wealth-planning firms are more likely to sign up for this type of coaching before ones at large firms.
“Smaller boutique financial advisers really care about the holistic relationship of their clients,” he says. “This is just one more aspect in an adviser’s arsenal they can use to add value to the relationship to make their fee even more justified.”
That fee can be steep.
The average annual financial adviser fee is is about 1% of a person’s assets under management, according to an AdvisoryHQ survey. (That’s $10,000 a year for a $1 million portfolio.) The fee tends to be higher for people with under $1 million to manage.
Starting a movement
“I think that we’re starting a conversation and a movement in this industry that can’t be ignored by the larger firms,” says Hixon. “Even the CFP [Certified Financial Planners] Board is baking into their curriculum dealing with the behavioral side of a client relationship.”
Exactly how financial advisers charge clients for advice about the nonfinancial aspects of retirement is being worked out.
Some just include the counseling in their client reviews, making it part of the annual fee. Others give workshops and charge for them.
“Living a purposeful second half of life isn’t just going to fall into your lap. You have to adjust and make changes,” says Miller. “If you’re willing to do that, it’s amazing how exciting and purposeful the second half of life can be.”
-Richard Eisenberg
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06-15-24 0940ET
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