Retiring Early Could Go Wrong: Greg Gagne

People invested in real estate while the mortgage rates were low, and then used those properties to gain cash flow through things like VRBO and Airbnb. The rising rate environment, coupled with the possibility of a recession, could prove [this to be] a poor investment decision.

People are also starting to retire earlier. The decision to retire earlier could be problematic later in life.

What kind of changes, if any, have you been making in your advice-giving strategies in recent years?

The mixture and our approach have not changed, but behavioral finance has changed since the start of the pandemic.

Trying to keep people using the product mixtures that have been working consistently for years has been difficult, as our clients' behavior has morphed to chase trendy investments.

Looking forward, as rates increase, opportunities for some of the more stable, guaranteed investments, such as fixed annuities and CDs, will become more prevalent in the product mixes.

What kind of effect, if any, has the COVID-19 pandemic had on your practice?

In the past five years, client attitudes have shifted heavily since the start of the global pandemic, which caused most people to reflect on their lives.

From what I have seen in my experience, people are retiring early, changing careers, becoming more philanthropic and empathetic. But at the same time, people are also frustrated with the global and domestic tragedies that we are experiencing daily.

We have changed a lot since the start of the pandemic.

When it first began, my MDRT study group rallied together to set up weekly Zoom calls to talk about what is going on and how we can help our clients.

I implemented a calming and stabilizing communication plan where we published weekly video updates for clients, since we didn't have time to call every single client.

Then, as time went on and things slowly went back to normal, we cut the videos back to every two weeks, and now we're back to making monthly videos for our clients.

We also held webinars since we couldn't meet in person. We made the webinars more engaging and conversational to give clients the ability to talk to people outside of their immediate family.

Our overall communication system has changed drastically since the start of the pandemic, and it has been very well received by our clients, so we'll continue leveraging this system in the future.

Greg Gagne. (Photo: Affinity Investment Group)