Our world is changing rapidly and advising clients on retirement is becoming more complex due to increased life expectancy, changes in super and the cost of living.
A trend which seems to be happening globally is the desire of retirees to remain in the workforce in a part time capacity. With the ‘gig economy’ gearing up, and the ability for online businesses to start with very little capital outlay, those in their 60s and 70s are for the first time looking to become entrepreneurs.
This is an exciting opportunity for advisers to become an even more important part of people’s lives. Most people who start their own business, or participate in one, have not had the experience of being self-employed. As an adviser, you will need to become a coach to them: asking them questions around their passion, their plan, and its prospects. Sometimes this will mean giving them the confidence to take the plunge, at others times, it will mean cashflow planning around their needs moving forward.
While most people understand that their retirement will be funded very differently from their working life, the new breed of retiree that works at least part time is looking at using their super, Centrelink benefits and their home in a very different way than the grey nomads of the past.
The ideal time to start talking to clients about this is in their 50s before they have left their current job and all the security a regular income provides. By becoming their life coach and asking them to dream about what’s next, you are setting up your clients to have a satisfying next phase of life, with the passion and energy of contributing something new and exciting to the world, rather than fading out and not contributing.
In addition to the emotional and financial benefits of planning an entrepreneurial next phase, it’s also a massive contributor to Australian society, where gen X, gen Y, and millennials will be supporting more retirees than ever before in our history.
If you do have clients in their 50s and 60s that may need help, it may be worthwhile putting a process together to coach them to become entrepreneurs and to form a tax planning, cashflow and ongoing advice perspective.
It can only be a positive decision for you to make, and the impact you could have on your clients lives, and the Australian economy, can be huge.
Five ways to coach your clients:
- Ask them to dream – what did they want to be growing up?
- Understand their cashflow needs – how can working impact their pension, etc?
- Gauge their understanding of online and how a business works – have some suppliers and process to be able to refer them to if needed
- Help them write a business plan – or at the very least give them a template and review their efforts and give comment
- Put together some case studies of people who have done it successfully – this can really inspire clients to believe they can do it too
