As baby boomers grow older, having rejected as young adults the religions in which they were raised, many are now turning to religion and other forms of spirituality to find meaning in their lives.

And as their advisor, you should be attuned to your boomer clients’ religious and spiritual beliefs — and any changes in them.

These beliefs may determine the advisor and financial institution with which clients will work. Beliefs may also influence the type of investments they make. And beliefs may be integral to the charitable causes and organizations your clients support during their lifetimes and in their estates. When you are discussing with your clients their core values, you should be also probing about their religious and spiritual beliefs.

In the 2001 national census, the most recent year in which Statistics Canada tracked religious beliefs, more than 10 million Canadians over the age of 45 claimed affiliation with Christianity, Judaism, Islam or one of the eastern faiths.

But in spite of the large numbers claiming affiliation with mainstream religions, not all these people are practising these faiths. Canadians reporting attendance at religious services dropped dramatically in this census, with 43% of adults surveyed reporting not attending religious services in the previous 12 months, compared with 26% in 1986.

Some are turning elsewhere for spiritual sustenance. The census reports that Wicca and other neo-pagan faiths reconstructed from elements of ancient religions saw a huge jump over the previous decade, with a growth rate of more than 280%, to slightly more than 21,000. Native Canadian spirituality experienced 175% growth, to slightly less than 30,000 over the same period.

“Some boomers are distrustful of organized religion,” says Rhonda Latreille, president of the Canadian Academy of Senior Advisors Inc. in Vancouver, which confers the certified senior advisor designation. “But they’re avidly looking for spiritual nourishment as part of their personal growth.”

People are often drawn to the spiritual as they age. Wendy Fletcher, principal and dean of the Vancouver School of Theology, attributes this to entering what Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called “the mid-life passage.”

“Before this, the lives we built for ourselves are often based on other people’s expectations of us,” Fletcher says. “Now, these expectations may no longer make sense for us. The mid-life passage is the beginning of the quest for what Jung called the ‘Self’ — the journey toward integrating our conscious and unconscious personalities.”

A profound sense of disillusionment often prompts boomers to cultivate their spiritual side, adds Peter Emberley, professor of political science and philosophy at Carleton University in Ottawa, who has researched the spiritual habits of baby boomers.

“The extreme optimism of the 1960s — that this was the dawning of a new age for humankind — set boomers up for disappointment,” he says. “We expected a change in society and in institutions — including the churches — that move with glacial speed.”

But onset of the boomer generation is partly to blame. Their vast numbers helped set the North American economy in motion after the Second World War. The times were good and, as their careers took off, many exchanged their youthful idealism for financial prosperity.

Boomers became the ultimate consumers, expecting to have it all: homes, vacation properties, vehicles, travel, entertainment and the best education for their children. Many did.

“But after the technology bubble burst and the events of 9/11,” Emberley says, “a deep disillusionment set in, a sense that we really messed up, that a radical shift is needed. This sowed the seeds for the spiritual searches of today.”

Many boomers are at a stage in their careers at which their work may not bring the satisfaction it once did, says Mark Wexler, a 59-year-old professor of business ethics at the Segal Graduate School of Business at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. “By their mid-50s, their material well-being may be assured,” Wexler says. “They start thinking back to the ideals of their youth, and find themselves lacking. Some may even feel they’ve sold out.”

Such introspection doesn’t happen in less affluent parts of the world and among less affluent classes here in Canada, says Wexler. “These people can’t afford to relinquish their preoccupation with work,” he says. “[This introspection] is a middle-class phenomenon; our job security, pensions and investments are allowing us to return to our early idealism, just as teenagers and university students can afford to be idealistic because their parents are supporting them.”

@page_break@And for many boomers, the journey to the Self can be a journey out of the religions in which they grew up, Fletcher says. Although some are responding to the present uncertain times — with its concerns about post-9/11 terrorist attacks, global warming and financial market meltdown — by looking for the stable, ready-made answers offered by conservative forms of Christianity and other faiths, others are finding that organized religions no longer meet their needs.

“The churches have been way behind on human rights,” Fletcher says, “and boomers are questioning churches’ views on women and homosexuality, and their hypocrisy about clerical pedophilia.”

Emberley, a boomer born in 1956, sees two distinct forms of boomer spirituality. One is the clinging to traditional religious beliefs, whether those the boomers grew up with or other traditional religions, in order to return to an imagined time of purity and hide from forces that have become inexplicable.

The other is a kind of “consumer” spirituality that Emberley describes as “a medley of traditions, forms of worship and spiritual experiences … that allows boomers to have it all.”

And even atheists, who believe only in the secular world, have spiritual needs, Fletcher notes. “By virtue of being human,” she says, “whether or not we believe in a being bigger than ourselves, we all have the capacity to transcend ourselves. We can all comprehend being part of a cosmos that is vastly bigger than we are. Atheists may have no sense of a personal god; but, as human beings, they have a sense of being connected to something much bigger than themselves.”

The green movement, with its focus on creating environmental and social change, often through an individual’s daily choices, is a form of religion to many boomers, according to Fletcher: “It allows them to be connected to something bigger than themselves. The boomers have been unbelievably consumerist, but they are now recognizing the importance of improving the world, helping others in it and leaving a legacy for future generations.”

Wexler calls the green movement a “secular” religion. “Unlike the ‘sacred’ religions that focus on belief in a supernatural being or a supernatural world,” he says, “secular religions are central life identities that can be as attractive to atheists as to members of organized religions.”

Secular religions, such as environmentalism and feminism, are “emerging” religions, meaning we aren’t born into them.

The environmental movement may hold a lot of appeal for disillusioned boomers, he adds: “It may be the return of the life force to these ‘dead men walking’.”

Knowing where your clients sit on faith and value issues will enable you to bring informed choices to the table and deepen the client/advisor relationship.

There are faith-based investing options to explore. Your Muslim clients, for example, will want to steer clear of holdings in distilleries, breweries, casinos and tobacco products, as well as interest-bearing vehicles such as bonds. You’ll want to check out the shariah-compliant funds (based on shariah, the Islamic code of religious law) that have come on the market in recent years and invest according to Islamic principles.

Your “green” clients will want to avoid companies that deal in non-renewable resources, nuclear power, armaments or companies with bad environmental records, and they may be candidates for socially responsible investment funds. Some SRI fund managers emphasize “sin screens” to weed out companies with negative records, while others apply positive screens to find companies with outstanding social and environmental performance.

Your clients’ religious and social beliefs will also determine to which charity they will donate their dollars. Members of religious groups may want to support charities run by their particular religion, such as summer camps for underprivileged children and shelters for the homeless.

And both religious and non-religious clients may want to support medical research, non-profit organizations affiliated with medical conditions such as the Canadian Cancer Society, and arts groups.

Green clients will probably want to support organizations advocating environmental and societal change, such as the Sierra Club of Canada, a non-profit group fighting global warming and promoting environmental conservation.

And your clients’ philanthropic patterns will probably extend beyond the grave. You can encourage those supporting charities or non-profit organizations to make a bequest to these organizations in their wills.

And, if clients’ families also support these causes, your interest in them will forge important links to younger generations. IE