It’s their life savings we’re managing, this is really serious business.
As a practicing advisor, I am reminded each day that the process of converting a person’s nest egg, their life savings, into a sustainable retirement income is no small matter.
The level of trust required on the part of a family to engage a third-party to guide them and their money is staggering. It should be then, that an advisor makes every effort to equip themselves with the tools required to do the job correctly.
I am a regular reader of some of the great academicians of our field, such as Michael Kitces, Wade Pfau, Moshe Molevsky and others. If you’re not aware of their work, please make it a priority to become aware.
Not only do they provide incredible insights into the body of knowledge of financial and retirement planning (two different things, mind you), but they regularly disagree with one another’s findings. That’s right, they are often citing one another to point out the shortfalls of their respective position. As much as I enjoy this, it should beg the question:
If the academics cannot agree, what am I, the advisor, supposed to do?
I will often read an article on a retirement planning topic, walk into the meeting with a retiring couple, and have the very advice I just read questioned by the client.
If the academics can’t agree with one another on the best solution, and the client won’t agree on the proposed solution, how do you decide what to do next?