Last week’s message referenced fatigue and lack of time as a reason so many professionals fail to do for themselves what they do for others. We could stop there, and as many of you likely realize, we would simply be attempting to treat a symptom with the suggestions provided.
Not that the suggestions given are not worthy and reasonable ways to have done for you what you do for others; it is that the remedies do not get at the underlying issue. That underlying issue for so many professionals is addressing a difficult and sometimes uncomfortable issue. We resort to our usual course of action…procrastination.
To consider that so many advisors (46% in the study) have not prepared their own financial plan, points out the obvious in lack of business and personal planning. Yet it raises a far more important issue: if you have not had your own conversation, thoughts and planning around your life design, just how effective are you at doing it for others?
You know it is more than income and expenses, rates of return and withdrawal rates, an early or a late retirement; it is what your client desires to do when they stop performing for pay. Whether an employed professional or a business owner, a career is often how you define yourself, your purpose, your reason for getting out of bed each morning. When that “obligation” is gone, just who will you be and what will you do with your time?
This consideration, this fear, keeps many advisors from developing a plan for the future. It is too big, too complex, too unknown to be addressed. The process we use to attempt to address it does not help the issue at all. We ask, “when do you want to retire?” Give us a date and what you expect to spend and we will apply that over your actuarial life span and let you know the results. This is simplified. Great advisors go beyond this, yet seldom do we know the questions to ask to help our clients define a lifestyle. We haven’t asked ourselves these questions or considered the possibilities. If we haven’t gone there, then how can we lead our clients?
Send me a note on this subject. I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.