Celebrating the Significance of Work

Mitch Anthony

Many of your clients continue to feel the effects of the current recession, especially when it comes to thinking about retirement. Like it or not, many of them are facing a new reality––the reality of not being able to retire when they thought they’d be able to. Needless to say, the thought of putting their future plans on hold can be downright depressing.

As your client’s trusted advisor, you have the power to help your clients realize that this turn of events doesn’t have to be the dark cloud it now appears to be. When I first wrote The New Retirementality back in 2000, the Manhattan skyline was dramatically different, and we hadn’t yet suffered the infamous dot.com bust. Nine years later, we’re in the midst of one of the worst recessions many of us have ever experienced, and your clients are scared. Back in 2000, clients were able to choose to have a new retirementality. Today, they may not have a choice––more and more of them will have to work well into their retirement years. However, you have the power to help them realize the significance of work, and that now more than ever, they need to consider what that significance means.

What Work Really Means

Rather than viewing retirement as a cold-turkey exit from the working world or a jump from the cliff of employment, your clients need to view it as a transition or a segue. Frankly, they don’t have a choice. But they do have a choice in how to handle that transition. The transition ramp may be a gradual decline of hours spent on the job or moving into free agency or another career. Why do so many retirees want to come back to work soon after they retire? They miss the significant aspects that work brings into their lives.

Almost 80 percent of us say we want to continue working in some way, shape, or form. Yes, it is at least in part because we realize we can’t afford to retire, but more importantly it’s because we realize that for all that we give to our work, work gives something back to us. When we strip away the annoying personalities and the frustrating tasks that a current job offers, we realize that work can provide great intangible rewards to mind and spirit including camaraderie, shared victories, and disappointments, the adrenaline rush of the chase, building something out of nothing, the realization that our efforts have influenced or helped people and the world we live in, relationships, and a sense of accomplishment. These benefits should not be underrated when your clients assess the place of work in their lives. In other words, as an advisor you can help your clients look for the silver lining.

Our nation’s evolving attitude toward work was revealed in a 2005 HSBC study that demonstrated 93 percent of Americans wanted to go on working at any age if they were still capable. Keep in mind that this survey took place well before we hit the depths of the current recession. Maybe we just need to remind ourselves of this fact. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that what we can’t have right now isn’t what we really wanted anyway.

Many of our clients can get stuck dwelling on the negative instead of celebrating the positive. Let’s remind them that most retirees have decided that they actually want to work. They have recognized the enjoyment that work brings––even if part of their motive is the need for money. The realization comes to the majority of retirees sooner or later that the choice to retire entirely may not be such a good one.

I’m not suggesting that you or your clients bury your heads in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong…that just isn’t realistic. But maybe this recession is trying to tell us all something: by celebrating the significance of what we do, we realize that working longer may not be so bad after all. 

Adapted from The New Retirementality: Planning Your Life and Living Your Dreams…at Any Age You Want by Mitch Anthony. ©2008 Mitch Anthony.  Published by John Wiley & Sons.  Available at online and local booksellers or http://www.financialifeplanning.com/BOOK_New_Retire.html.

Mitch Anthony is the founder and president of Advisor Insights Inc. and The Financial Life Planning Institute, training companies serving advisors and the financial services industry. He is the author of several books for advisors including the StorySelling for Financial Advisors. His newest book, From the Boiler Room to the Living Room:  What the Coming Revolution in Financial Services Means to You and Your Clients will be published by John Wiley & Sons is now available at local and online booksellers or at http://www.mitchanthony.com/BOOK_Boiler_Room.html. Anthony is a contributing editor for Research magazine and his column “Financial Life Planning” appears in Financial Advisor magazine. He has been a named a “Mover & Shaker” by Financial Planning magazine and is frequently quoted by the media as an expert on financial life planning.

Contact him at mitch@mitchanthony.com.

© 2008 Mitch Anthony