A long, long time ago in a place far away, Americans made children, lots of them. We call this group the baby boom generation. They comprise 76 million souls born from 1946 through 1964. Boomers left their footprint in a big way at every life change. They started retiring around 2008 and will continue to exit the workforce en masse through 2026. For retirement advisers, this group represents your future for the next many years, and then some.
Targeting boomers for DC plan sales is nothing new. Focus your efforts on improving outcomes for clients in the face of frightening statistics, of which we cover a few below. Your business tilts toward success or failure based in part on your ability to get your clients out of those statistical groups.
Numbers spell your strategy
Let us look at a few data points to help you define a strategy for your retirement planning business. Consider these numbers:
- 46% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.
- 40% of baby boomers now plan to work until they die.
- 36% of Americans say they dont contribute anything at all to their savings.
- 87% of adults say they are not confident about having money for a comfortable retirement.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the American savings rate ticked along this past May at 4.5%. We collectively save less than five cents of every dollar earned.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that a male born today can expect to live 76 years. Father Time graciously allows females a bit more time with a life expectancy of 81.
These and other statistics sound a clarion call that a day of reckoning is coming for the American workforce. The three-legged stool of retirement suddenly looks like pogo stick.
Retirement advising and technology
You must be a superior professional adviser with lots of technology knowhow to handle customer service and provide added value.
This technological knowledge, as applied to retirement, includes great CRM features for your client relationships. The value-add component means slick predictive modelling through various scenarios with many more variables that affect financial needs and a good quality of life in retirement. Use technology that creates a complete understanding of systematic and nonsystematic risk, i.e., beta and positive alpha coefficients.
Your competition probably does not talk in these terms. Have technology demonstrate the link between volatility and risk. We, of course, know they are one in the same, but most of your clients do not know that. Employ technology that shows the effect of different types of risk on their retirement savings since it will play a big part in asset allocation given the dismal statistics bulleted above.
Technology in retirement planning abounds. Use tools that assist clients with holistic planning. For example, what is the role of health costs in retirement planning and asset allocation? What about reverse mortgages? Employ tech tools that produce a financial plan. Individual financial plans differentiate you in the marketplace. Above all, strive to add value as a technology expert. Embrace the lemon numbers depicted in the aggregate savings numbers above and turn them into lemonade with a solid, positive plan that works.
