Advisors’ Approach to Retirement Planning – What’s New?

The world has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades—and that requires that tax and financial advisors adapt their strategies for pre-retirees. Recognizing the current economic and societal changes drivers, it appears that  debt management, and debt reduction strategies at various life stages, require more attention. This will be a key planning theme at Knowledge Bureau’s upcoming CE Summits.

Baby Boomers and Generation Y, who fall into the forty to sixty age range, are a captive market for tax and financial advisors to provide retirement planning services, as they’re actively considering how they want their future to look. However, financial professionals experienced in working with older generations must recognize that their strategic approach needs to be revised for these younger clients, as things have changed dramatically. What differentiates this age bracket from their predecessors and has an impact on the retirement planning process?

Firstly, fewer Canadians today have employer-provided pensions to rely upon as a source of retirement income. There are a variety of reasons for this: it’s no longer the trend to stay with one company for long enough to qualify, there’s been a shift to employee-directed rather than company-directed retirement plans, self-employment has become a more viable alternative to traditional employment, and many employers simply aren’t providing these types of benefits. In addition, Canadian retirees will be impacted by changes to the government-sponsored Canada Pension Plan, which will reduce the supplemental retirement benefit amounts received.

Furthermore, there is the reality that people are expecting to remain in the workforce past the age of sixty-five out of necessity; interest rates are rising, leading to increased housing and debt costs; supporting adult children has become a necessity for many families due to today’s economic climate and job availability; there have been changes in the yields of stocks and bonds over the past few decades; and, of course, there are the new tax changes that could lead to punitive actions and financial consequences if not effectively abided by.

There’s also been a shift in perspective for individuals who are approaching traditional retirement age. While older generations retired at or before age sixty-five; many Baby Boomers have no intention of slowing down. They’re educated, entrepreneurial, and are still at the core of business growth and development. They want to remain engaged.

Each of these factors means that traditional approaches to retirement planning don’t always apply to every client’s case. Tax and financial advisors need to think about how each of these issues impacts debt and mortgage reduction, management of specific debt sources, and how that changes at each life stage. These are timely issues that demand access to greater knowledge, education and resources.

These items are on the agenda at Knowledge Bureau’s CE Summit workshops, which will be visiting four Canadian cities this fall. Register and learn the skills required to demonstrate to your clients that your strategies are tailored to their unique generational needs.

Additional educational resources: Executive Business Builder Program, Advanced Family Tax Preparation Course

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