In retirement planning, consumers often talk about the broad goal of retirement without defining what that really means. That makes it difficult to create the short-term motivation needed to make a decision today. The advisor can help by getting consumers to define what they really want and then creating narrow goals to hit the broad one.
Say a 56-year-old prospect says he wants to be able to retire in 10 years and maintain his lifestyle. The advisor should first help the consumer determine the dollars needed to reach this goal. If the broad goal of “maintain lifestyle” could be defined as “I would like to receive $12,000 a year in addition to Social Security,” then specific goals can be set.
Planning for a lifetime of benefits
And what can actually be done today to produce $12,000 a year at age 66? Lifetime withdrawal benefits work especially well because what is needed to be done today to reach long-term goals can be better defined.