Raymond James wants advisers to focus on retirement planning

Hopes to move conversations more to lifestyle and goals rather than portfolios and dollars.

Retirement planning is evolving — retirees are working during their elderly years, people are living longer and technology is changing the way retirees plan not just their money but their lives.

To go along with the evolution — aided by research from MIT AgeLab, an organization dedicated to combining innovation and technology into new ideas to improve retirees’ quality of life — Raymond James has decided to refocus the way its advisers’ manage retirement planning options.

Last week, the firm announced six initiatives it hopes its advisers adopt:

• Refocusing their questions from money management to priorities in retirement
• Using software to enhance goal planning and monitoring
• Having financial advisers expand their knowledge so that they can educate their clients on life issues associated with age,
• Expanding the clients’ network to include professionals beyond financial services,
• Setting up clients with social media and a digital presence,
• Hosting unique and engaging client events centered around longevity.

“Traditional financial planning has been very focused on the numbers and portfolios and not as focused necessarily on lifestyle and key decisions people face that add much more meaning to their life,” said Patrick O’Connor, senior vice president of wealth, retirement and portfolio solutions at Raymond James.

Raymond James’ initiatives will be introduced over the next nine to 12 months as feedback is taken from advisers.

One of the key findings in MIT AgeLab’s research is that many people are living longer, which will affect how they spend their retirement years and money. According to Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, much of retirement planning focuses on how much money clients will need for retirement.

“It’s not incorrect, but it is incomplete,” Mr. Coughlin said. “Financial advisers and families need to look at, ‘What am I going to be doing in retirement, and how much is that going to cost?’”

Issues clients can face include where they will live — they may move or modify/maintain their current homes, healthcare, and supporting not just themselves and their spouses but their children and elderly parents.

“The fact is we are living longer, we have different expectations not just to live longer but to live better,” Mr. Coughlin said.

Reshaping the way advisers look at retirement planning and work with clients will be the norm, Mr. Coughlin said.

“Financial services, within the next three to five years, is really at a new frontier of reinventing not just how we pay for retirement, but how we live in retirement,” Mr. Coughlin said. “Initiatives by Raymond James and other companies out there are making progress in terms of making sure our retirement planning is about longevity planning and not just about money we need in older age.”