For a successful transition from working life to retirement, people will need to think about more than how much money they have in the bank, according to experts speaking at the Retirement Coaching Conference in Toronto on Monday.
Clients who are about to retire or are recently retired are often concerned with numerous and complex issues, said Rick Atkinson, founder and president of RA Retirement Advisors. These concerns include escalating healthcare costs, retirement savings, supporting aging parents or adult children and what exactly retirement will look like.
According to Gillian Stovel Rivers, senior financial planning advisor with Assante Financial Management Ltd., these concerns primarily relate to three areas: health, purpose and wealth. Advisors need to call on the expertise of a network of professionals, she says, to properly address these topics and to help with the switch from working life to retirement.
Part of a dynamic and long retirement is a client’s health. Poor health, in addition to potentially shortening a client’s life and deteriorating quality of life, can cost a lot of money, said Dr. Paul Ziemer, director of Lifestyle Medicine, Canadian Laser and Pain Therapy. Many clients aren’t even aware of the different health practitioners available in their area. Advisors can help clients take better care of their health by partnering with local practitioners and encouraging those professionals to participate in marketing initiatives, said Ziemer. For example, advisors could ask a health practitioner to speak at an event or to contribute to a newsletter.
Advisors should also encourage clients to invest in their health capital, said Ziemer, through the promotion of active living. “It’s sponsoring a yoga class or sponsoring a hike,” he says, “something that going to get clients out there and doing something.”
When it comes to the financial side of retirement there are many reasons why clients don’t actually retire, said Stovel Rivers. Sometimes clients put off retirement because they’re supporting children, they started saving too late or they simply don’t earn enough to save properly. Yet, the most common reason people put off retirement is fear, she said. This fear stems from not having a proper retirement plan written out.
For a plan that works, advisors need to ask clients the right questions to find out what they truly desire and envision for their retirements, says Stovel Rivers. By digging deeper, she says, an advisor can avoid situations where a plan becomes obsolete after a client unexpectedly renovates his or her entire house in the first year of retirement.
The third topic advisors need to broach with clients relates to purpose. For an exciting and dynamic retirement, said Atkinson, clients need a stronger purpose than focusing on one hobby, such as golf, for the next 10, 20 or even 30 years of their lives.
Part of finding purpose in retirement is building a social network to keep clients engaged and connected with their community. “It sounds just like fun and games to have a strong social network in retirement,” said Stovel Rivers, “but it’s also a survival skill.” This is because the more connected a client is to people the more likely they will be cared for and have visitors when he or she is in her 90s and confined to a long-term care facility.