Four Questions for the Top Retirement Advisor

Commentary April 08, 2009 at 08:00 PM

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What retirement issue has hit you or your clients out of left field, and how did you resolve it?

I found that a lot of my new clients were not prepared for such a market downturn. They weren't diversified and didn't have the proper asset allocation to help during difficult times.

We've been focused on helping our clients develop a market recovery strategy that makes sense for them to help take the emotion out of investing and focus on the things that they can control.

What prospecting methods have been most successful for you in attracting retirement-planning clients?

Seminars that have multiple areas of interest and are not the standard offering by all other financial advisors. For speakers, I like to have an attorney, a CPA, a product vendor and myself.

I think this adds value to the experience and helps deepen relationships. My other activities/resources are Expos and client referrals.

Do you face any frequently occurring retirement-planning mistakes with prospects?

Many investors think diversification is having multiple accounts in numerous banks/firms or having multiple types of investments (stock, bonds, etc.). Unfortunately, this isn't always adequate.

The foundation of a well-designed investment portfolio is proper asset allocation. Developing an appropriate asset allocation for a client's situation is a critical step toward helping them reach their long-term goals. This is where I spend a considerable amount of time with clients.

What challenges do you face when modeling clients' retirement incomes and cash flows, and how do you resolve them?

Many of my new clients really don't know their expenses/budget, so we frequently must review their budgets, expectations from their cash flow and tolerances to risk and volatility.

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