Retirement Master

Moreover, FAs must choose products for portfolios that are structured around retirement income. And they need to make clients understand that certain decisions — like when to begin Social Security benefits — are theirs alone to make, she says. But that's not saying FAs shouldn't be knowledgeable about Social Security and Medicare. In effect, the advisor becomes a coach, while "learning how to integrate into their practices [components] that aren't products and not directly monetized," she says.

 Mantell's own mantra? "Never say 'no'." "Even if you're overburdened and have no time, when an opportunity comes your way — if, for example, your boss asks you to take on a new project — I've found it's always better to say 'yes' because you learn so much more to fill your tool bag, and to fill the company's as well."

As a student at the University of Rochester, in New York, the Binghamton, N.Y.-born Mantell had no yen for a financial services career. She wanted to become a chemical engineer. However, halfway through her studies, she came to the conclusion that she wasn't cut out to be an engineer. The only electives she could take, though, were other science classes. Her degree: a B.A. in geology.

"Every time there's an earthquake or tsunami, I recall my earthquake term papers!" she says.

Right after graduation, she moved to Minneapolis, where husband Daniel Mantell received a Ph.D. in chemistry (he's now a money manager). In Minnesota, Marcia started out with a job in direct marketing at Fingerhut. When the Mantells moved to Massachusetts for Daniel's job relocation, she joined a small catalog company as marketing manager.

But within a few years, she was ready for a fresh challenge. That's how she "fell into this phenomenal opportunity" in retirement at Fidelity, she says. At the time, IRA rollovers were just starting to be implemented.

Soon Mantell was responsible for product management, as well as developing and marketing IRAs and small business products to investors. Later, she joined the advisor channel.

Today, apart from helping FAs beef up their retirement accumulation business, she is empowering motivated advisors to focus on income distribution. And that, she jokes, involves yet another new skill to learn: marriage counseling.

But seriously: "If the clients are a couple with two different sets of goals and desires for the back-half of their lives, this is a challenge in your practice that wasn't necessarily there before. The numbers piece doesn't go away," she says, "but now you absolutely need to add that relationship component."

Off-hours, Mantell comes up with creative family dinner celebrations like "Taco Tuesday." Then there's always that old standby, "Freezer Challenge": "Let's clean out the freezer and see how long until we have to go to the grocery store," she explains. "My two teenage daughters say, 'Oh, no! Please, Mom — not Freezer Challenge!'"