Longevity is no longer an emerging issue for financial planners and their clients; it has emerged. It’s leading to new questions that are reframing conversations about retirement planning.
“How long do you have left?” is fast supplementing the traditional questions around risk tolerance and age-based investment issues. How long a client can actually expect to live in retirement, and the financial requirements to do so at the standard they want, is a fundamental consideration.
David Williams, managing director of My Longevity, says understanding longevity issues, and approaching the planning process with those issues top of mind, leads to better results for clients, including a better sense that the client and the adviser are embarking on a journey together.
Louise Biti, co-founder and director of Strategy Steps, says understanding how and when an adviser adds value during that journey underpins the creation of an advice proposition that clients understand, value and will pay for.
But financial planners and advisers often find themselves having to discuss financial issues at moments of great stress in a client’s life. The director of psychology services for Prova, Steve Smith, says an integral part of great advice is learning the skills to have those conversations in a sensitive and effective way.
Williams, Biti and Smith will co-present a “Longevity Conversations” session, on Day 2 of the Post Retirement Conference on March 11.
Day 2 of the conference – produced by Conexus Financial, the publisher of Professional Planner – is designed for financial planners and advisers, and covers topics ranging from the issue of when “post retirement” actually starts for most clients; legislative and policy developments in Australia and overseas; product design and evolution; goals setting and portfolio construction; estate planning; and how to help clients deal with the “retirement blues”.
It features a line-up of first-class speakers and panelists, including: leading industry consultant Paul Maddock; consulting actuary Doug McBirnie; Macquarie Bank executive director David Shirlow; chief investment officer of the investment solutions group of State Street Global Advisors Dan Farley; Milliman senior consultant Craig McCulloch; Innova Asset Management co-chief investment officer Dan Miles; Colonial First State general manager of advocacy and retirement Nicolette Rubinsztein; EY partner Steve Nagle; Equity Trustees national manager of estate planning Anna Hacker; lawyer and Your Estate Plan principal Bryan Mitchell; executive coach and clinical psychologist Tim Sharp; Challenger chief executive of distribution, product and marketing Paul Rogan; and CFS general manager of product Peter Chun.
The Post Retirement Conference has been accredited for 6.5 CPD points by the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA)*. Full details, including the agenda are available at the event website.
* This activity has been accredited for continuing professional development points by the Financial Planning Association of Australia but does not constitute FPA’s endorsement of the activity. Accreditation number 007097 for 6.5 points
