Note from Jim Black
I worked with a prospect a few years back who sought my help in answering his question of when he could retire. He and his wife had both held strong careers and they had accumulated a significant amount of assets and were diligent enough to avoid accruing any debt. After running the numbers and taking into account his priorities, and all assumptions and variables, I presented him with his written income plan. Even after seeing that he could retire today with the income he wanted and needed for the rest of their lives, he struggled accepting the idea of retiring. He continued to need reassurance that he really could retire, and that we were sure we had computed his plan correctly.
While I’m certainly not a trained counselor, I have needed to play this role many times while meeting with prospects and clients. In the case of this prospect, I asked him a question:
“Can you recall your earliest memory as it pertains to money?”
He told me his first job at 12 years old was picking up golf balls at a driving range and that he earned $3 a week. He went on to tell me how much he loved it. I knew he was 62 now, so a quick calculation told me he had been working for money for over 50 years. I realized then that it was no wonder he was struggling from walking away from earning a paycheck – that’s all he’d ever known!
Retirement is one of the most challenging phases of life to prepare for, and many deal with a deep “inner game” that shapes their respective life choices. And because I lack the appropriate counselor designations after my name, we have partnered with a Certified Retirement and Transition Coach to help our clients smoothly transition, and remain contented, in the second half of their life.
This seasoned, certified coach helps our clients by incorporating a non-financial approach dedicated to making their retirement years happy and fulfilling. Through the use of comprehensive assessment tools, people can help people better understand what they want out of retirement, and just as important, what they don’t want. The process helps guide retirees in developing life plans by identifying and incorporating their unresolved non-financial thoughts and concerns.
If I were planning to retire soon, this is the very type of guidance I would be craving. Having access to a person who can help increase my odds of building a successful, well-rounded retirement by living the fullest life possible, is imperative to me. Because of that, I suspect there are some of you who may be searching for the same thing.