PLANADVISER - July/August 2021 - 12

trends
How to Live Well in Retirement
Advisers should heed near-retirees' post-pandemic values and goals
EDWARD JONES and Age Wave's latest study has shown that
advisers should " more deeply understand what people care
about in retirement-their hopes, dreams and fears, " said
Ken Cella, principal of Edward Jones' Client Services Group,
during a webinar discussing the two firms' " four pillars " of
the new retirement-health, family, purpose and finances.
The pandemic has caused 76% of Americans " to refocus
on what absolutely matters to them, and they now have new
purposes, " said Maddy Dychtwald, co-founder of Age Wave.
More specifically, " Fifty-six percent of retirees say it's a
new chapter in their life, and they are not winding down, "
Dychtwald said. " Rather, the word 'freedom' resonates-
freedom to live life and grow on your own terms. "
Thus, to make a true connection in a one-on-one meeting
with a near-retiree, advisers still need to walk the participant
through retirement, health care, long-term care and
estate planning, but they should remember " the softer side
as well, " Dychtwald said.
" Family remains the strongest of the four pillars [when
averaging responses of the five generations surveyed], with
connections growing stronger throughout COVID, " she said.
Asked what is most important to them, retirees told
Age Wave that their top priority is health, then family and
then purpose for being, with 90% of them citing this order.
What They Want in Retirement
9,000 North Americans were surveyed across
5 generations. What the U.S. retirees and preretirees-i.e.,
those age 50 or older-said
they want to do once past full-time employment:
93%
to feel that they
are useful
67%
to spend time
with loved ones
55%
to do interesting/
enjoyable things
" This [indicates] that people care more about
significance than success, " Dychtwald said.
So retirement plan advisers should consider
starting off
their
relationship with nearretirees
by asking them what goals they have
for retirement, she said.
Dychtwald said Age Wave has found
that Baby Boomers heading into retirement
want to use their talents, " be that helping
out in school, starting a business, helping
the homeless or teaching-and all of this is
incredibly needed and wanted. "
Starting with the premise that a retiree
53%
to be true to
themselves
40%
to be generous
or give back
38%
to live a
faith-filled life
will have a 25-year retirement, Age Wave
has extrapolated the following datasets:
Retirees want to volunteer 3.3 hours weekly,
Dychtwald said. Over the next 20 years, 69
million Americans will be retiring. That will
translate into 238 billion hours of volunteer
time from Baby Boomer and Generation X
retirees, worth $6.8 trillion in man hours,
she said.
While age discrimination and underemployment
of older Americans are often
discussed by those in the retirement planning
industry, Dychtwald said Age Wave believes
that COVID-19 showed that older adults are
32%
to live a
fun-filled life
27%
to fulfill their
life's goals
16%
to be financially
wealthy
Source: Edward Jones and Age Wave, " The Four Pillars of the New Retirement "
pretty resilient and are an " untapped force of
social good who have the talent, the knowledge
and the experience to bear " on many
good things, such as mentoring the young.
The end result, said Cella, is that retirement
plan advisers, who are focused on
helping participants accumulate money,
need to realize that while the financial piece
of the equation is obviously critical, they
should think about the emotional and physical
sides of the retirement equation as well.
-Lee Barney
12 | planadviser.com July-August 2021
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - July/August 2021

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