CNBC Interviews Howard Pressman for Article, Advisors Help With Ups and Downs of Modern Retirement
CNBC Interviews Howard Pressman for Article, "Advisors Help With Ups and Downs of Modern Retirement"
June 5, 2014, CNBC - “Never before has mankind had 20 extra years” to live after retirement, according to Gary R. Jay, a certified retirement coach who works with financial advisors to give them skills to help clients transition into what he calls the Third Age, said our ever-growing retirement-age population is “at an explosion point.”
“There’s been a bottled-up need to do more planning around this time of life,” he said. “This need has been created within the last generation, due to miracles of science increasing longevity and [the fact of having more] women in the workplace and more money to spend in the household.”
Financial advisors are on the front lines of this explosion, say both advisors and consultants.
“As financial advisors, we are often the only professionals that people consult when preparing for retirement,” said Howard Pressman, a certified financial planner with Egan, Berger & Weiner, LLC.
“Over the past three years, I noticed that, despite all the planning, some of my clients—about 25 percent—still weren’t happy,” he said. “I came to realize that there’s a difference between being financially stable and being happy.”
Pressman said many of his clients were “left with a void.”
“I could see changes in their personality,” he added. “They told me, ‘I’m having trouble with this.’”
Incorporating psychology
As a result, Pressman began to incorporate more of the psychological side of retirement into his practice. He took a three-pronged approach by:
- Asking clients to describe their ideal retirement and come up with a concrete vision of what they wanted to do. He encourages them to talk about their emotions, especially regarding their sense of loss relating to job and identity.
- Bringing in a life coach to do workshops to help clients purposefully design this next phase of their lives. “Attendees said it was great to be in a room with others in a similar stage in life,” he said.
- Joining the local chapter of the Life Planning Network, an organization for professionals who help clients “navigate the second half of life.” This association provides him continuing education, a referral network and informational resources.
The bottom line, Pressman at Egan, Berger & Weiner said, is to “get clients to start thinking about what they want as soon as possible—so we can put a dollar amount on their future lifestyles.”