Help your clients plan for their income in retirement

By Clay Gillespie, CFP, CIM

In my practice, I deal with clients who are retired or close to being retired. For marketing purposes, my No. 1 prospect is someone five years from retirement, but my No. 1 client is someone who is retired. Something happens to clients as they get closer to their actual retirement date: What they are worried about starts to change. They are more interested in knowing what their income will be in retirement and how to integrate their various investment assets, retirement savings and pension entitlements. They may be confused and worried as they approach retirement. You need to start discussing the language of retirement.

I strive to answer the risks that must be dealt with when designing a retirement income strategy. At the same time, you need to help them understand that retirement is not just a financial transition but probably, and more importantly, an emotional transition.

The phrase I use with prospective clients: “You retire once, and I help people retire every day, so I’ve seen the good and the bad both emotionally and financially about retirement.”

I spend a significant amount of time during the first meeting learning about the soft issues that concern them. It is important to stress that the concerns and confusion they have about retirement are quite normal and should be expected.

Retirement is not about sitting on the beach looking at sunsets. That is called a vacation, not retirement.

Hear more in the December episode of MDRT Presents:

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Gillespie is a 17-year MDRT member from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.