I get a lot of material that comes across my desk from organizations and authors who feel they have a different 'take' on retirement planning. Generally, that new solution involves an investment strategy or some new product line that is going to magically solve all of your retirement issues.
As you know if you are familiar with my work, retirement planning is not as simple as an investment portfolio, a new income vehicle or a mutual fund. That is particularly true today when North American boomers are facing a crisis of confidence as they look to their futures and examine whether they can even keep the jobs they have, let alone retire from them.
It doesn't look like our economic mess is going away any time soon. It's effects have permeated every aspect of society and the long-term effects on the way that we invest, spend our money, and trust the advice of professionals to help us along the way will be significant.
This isn't "the more things change, the more they stay the same"! I believe strongly that there has been a paradigm shift in how we see financial advice, investment products and our futures that requires a similar shift in the way that financial services professionals approach us.
Recently, I was sent a copy of the book "New Rules of Retirement" by two Toronto financial professionals Warren MacKenzie and Ken Hawkins. My initial reaction was that this was going to be yet another book on investment strategies or income options that has already filled my bookshelf.
Most of these books are "perfect plans for perfect people entering perfect retirement".
Yet, this whole concept of retirement has also undergone a paradigm shift and it sometimes seems that the only people who don't realize it are the very professionals who try to advise us on how we should plan for it!
MacKenzie and Hawkins say right at the outset that, "the traditional "financial planning approach"...misses the bigger picture. Retirement planning ignores our human assets or human capital and fails to include emotional and psychological preparation along with financial preparation."
That is a mantra that I have been saying for years, but it has been like pulling teeth to get the financial services industry to embrace it. People thinking about retirement need a new approach to their situation, one that focuses on the challenges, needs and opportunities that individuals and families face today.
You should read this book. It is available through Harper Collins and can be bought at major Canadian book stores. If you are thinking about your own retirement, it will provide you with a fresh look that you are unlikely to get from many so-called retirement advisors.
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