Breaking Communication Barriers in Retirement Income Planning with Seniors

Communication is a critical skill that helps financial services professionals reach their full potential for success, especially when it comes to serving the aging population. If advisors take the time to learn what seniors think about and keep their knowledge updated with new research, the door to more productive and rewarding client relationships can open.

What you may not realize is that older adults’ mental development continues throughout their lives. They need the assistance and guidance of advisors who can empathize with them while accommodating their evolving behaviors, thoughts and opinions. Recent research on aging reveals that the brain maintains the vast majority of its capabilities throughout life and that personality development is just as important at the age of 85 as it is at age 45.

The key to unlocking the communication code of seniors lies in realizing that seniors face two opposing needs, or tasks. These are a normal part of the developmental cycle and are the drivers of personality growth.  

During their mid 60s, seniors are confronted with two seemingly contradictory tasks: to preserve control in a world where control is being lost, and to create a legacy in a world where time is running out. This creates some level of internal struggle within seniors — while one part of them battles for control, another part takes a reflective pause. Author and researcher David L. Solie, MS, PA, who studies strategies for communicating with elderly populations, suggests that in order to build a rapport with older clients, advisors need to respect this “final growth spurt.”

If financial planners are going to help seniors develop an effective retirement income plan, they need to become better versed in how seniors are affected by these two conflicting needs and communicate accordingly.

Addressing the Battle for Control

Some seniors become overwhelmed with feelings of powerlessness due to decreasing health, physical capability and strength, but those aren’t the only things that can trigger a need for control. Seniors can experience other painful losses in life that contribute to intensified internal struggles for control including loss of:

• Family
• Friends
• Peer groups
• Identity
• Financial freedom
• Driving privileges
• Home
• Status

Retirement planners whose senior clients are struggling with control must take care not to underestimate the intensity and impact of losses on their clients because it can derail even the best intentions to be helpful. One sign that a senior client is battling control issues is the rejection of good advice for illogical or shortsighted choices. From a developmental standpoint, this happens because the client’s need for control outweighs their medical, social, or financial needs.

Tips for Advisors to Break the Control Barrier

Given its importance to seniors, how should advisors best signal to senior clients that they understand their need of control? By using language that resonates with control, and linking products and services to control. This can be done during the planning process by utilizing statements such as, “We’ve found that lack of retirement income planning often results in loss of control,” or simply, “We plan on preserving choice.”

Similar adjustments of language can be used to create a control-focused conversation that reinforces the image of advisor as control confidant and advocate. Advisors can also incorporate words like “independence,” “dependence,” “loss” and “choice” into regular conversations and open-ended questions or statements such as:

• Would you tell me more about your choices for preserving independence?
• Do you feel like your living situation is slipping out of control?
• Please tell me how you navigated that loss.
• Let me see how you plan to preserve your independence.

Addressing the Desire for a Legacy

The second task that faces seniors is creating a legacy, a concept with which many advisors are familiar. Questions like, “What was the purpose of my life?”, “How did I make a difference?” and “Will I be remembered?” frequently weigh on the minds of seniors during this time of great retrospection. The need for a legacy is just as strong as the need for control, both dictated by the laws of nature and developmental stages. Legacy planning offers advisors multiple opportunities to signal that they know the importance of a legacy to their senior clients, so long as they know the right way to communicate.

Tips for Advisors to Address the Legacy Need

Advisors should approach communicating with seniors about their legacies by crafting a well-rounded repertoire of life review questions. These questions provide a channel for seniors to tell their stories, (much like during the client discovery phase), values and life themes.

• What was the world like when you grew up?
• What was the happiest time in your life?
• What was your greatest accomplishment?
• Tell me about your best friend growing up.
• If you could change anything in your life, what would you change?

Embed resonance with the need for a legacy in the “why” of the planning process by making statements like, “We plan to honor your values,” and “We find a lack of planning results in loss of legacy.” Altering the language you use when referring to specific products and services to build a connection between the product and legacy can help reinforce the perception of advisors as both legacy sounding boards and facilitators. For example, referring to "estate planning" as "legacy planning."

“In any situation where communication is awkward it’s helpful to recheck your assumptions about the person or about the response to your topic or approach,” recommends Solie, the elder communications researcher.

But having a comprehensive understanding of senior clients’ unique needs is just half the battle. Advisors must prioritize continued learning, aiming to always increase their knowledge of how seniors think and feel. Only then will advisors be able to exercise appropriate empathy and compassion, and ultimately unlock the communication code of seniors.

Gain a deeper understanding of complex retirement income planning issues and help your clients create a plan that satisfies their complex financial and developmental needs. Check out our slideshare, Retirement Planning for Longer Life Expectancy.