Redefining Retirement

Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.

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Dear Readers,

I received a number of very nice notes on my article about how advisors can improve their life-coaching skills. One of the themes was around retirement. I ran the defined contribution full-service unit for a large insurance company in my corporate life. With decades in the advisory industry, I’ve observed that we focus on our clients saving for retirement and then protecting what our clients have earned through legacy planning. But we often don’t adequately prepare people for the significant life transition that retirement represents.

This was made clear to me when my own mother broke down in tears one day. She was a senior executive in a bank, working her way up with only a high-school education, and felt she “had to” retire at 65. Now, 20 years later she is healthy enough to do Zumba three times a week and she deeply regrets stopping work so early in life with no plan of what to do next!