What do couples need to do to transition smoothly into retirement?
If you have two different personalities and if they are getting ready to retire together, they need to understand what's changing as they go forward, and that really takes some care. One thing we have run into is couples who plan without really fully talking to one another. One guy was getting ready to sell his practice and thought they had an understanding that she was going to quit her job at the same time and travel. But she wasn't ready to quit at the same time and wanted to stay on part time.
Sit down and say what's going to be different and what are our new rules going to be at home. You have to redecide who does the chores, your regular routines, little things like paying the bills, and how the money flows. Just having a conversation about the new house rules is a huge step for couples to do. Conversation becomes really important.
My wife and I are similar in a lot of ways, but we are different on structured versus flexible [personalities], and people need to be aware of those differences.
Are companies going to begin offering life-planning services in addition to financial-planning resources for retirement?
We are going to see that more and more. The folks will have a chance as an employee benefit to use the nonfiscal style that we have available. As the baby boomer generation continues to move toward retirement, companies are going to have a brain drain. I can't imagine that we're not going to offer support for nonfinancial planning. It's really important if you do financial planning to understand what you want to do [with your money].
What does the survey say you are supposed to do in retirement?
It doesn't give advice. It gives a process for finding your way. We have a range of experiences that go from one or two gems of insight for some people versus some people who go through exactly the steps we laid out for them step by step, following all the guidelines and taking all the coaching.
The critical thing for me is it told me what I find fulfilling at work. What I learned early was if I want to find fulfillment at what I do next, I'd better keep at least doing the parts of my work that I like the most. I'm one of those people who would really benefit from a downshift rather than complete retirement. Others will find that they get practically no fulfillment from work that they couldn't find from somewhere else.
Our grandparents didn't have retirement coaching. Why do we need it now?
I'm not sure everyone does. It's a subset of those who are leaving work who would benefit from coaching in much the same way that a subset of those changing careers would want to talk to a career counselor. Who would benefit most from coaching? Somebody who really values expert advice.
