Robert Laura wrote a book called Retirement Intelligence, and in it he talks about change. According to him there are 43 big changes that can happen in our lives that can really throw us. And of those, 20 of them can happen in retirement.
The Times Are A-Changin’
Think about the big shifts in your life: losing a job, death of a spouse, moving to a new city, losing your friends, health situations, financial difficulties. When you think about it, there’s good change and there’s bad change. When you go from high school to college, college to your first job, single to married, married to parents, all of those changes are associated with excitement.
Yet many people go into retirement scared to death. You give up your job, that thing that gave you your identity, and you give up the paycheck that gave you financial security.
Most of us get paid every two weeks. We have for years. Your clients wonder: in retirement, how am I going to get paid? Right now they need $8,000 a month. In retirement, $4,000 of it comes from Social Security. What happens now?
Change the Narrative, Brighten the Perspective
What if financial advisors turned that fear into a main talking point? Not “worry about coming changes,” but “Let’s make the change easier.”
We had an advisor recently say, when you retire, everything centers around the word was. “I was a teacher.” “I was in sales.” “I was in construction.” That’s a hard one for people going into retirement. Impress upon clients that, yes, there are some things you’re going to leave behind: boring meetings, spreadsheets, traffic, and alarm clocks.
You’ve had enough of work without pay. It’s time to get you paid without work.
But that’s just one story you can tell. Our series Selling with Stories is a way for you to tap into what other advisors are using to tell their story about retirement planning, with over 60 videos for you to scroll through and grab ideas. You can also check out our YouTube channel for more help with many other aspects of your business. Like and subscribe today!
