As an entrepreneur, I seek automation. When I can enhance my productivity through systems that complete generalized tasks or activities, I am all over that. When automation will not work because it is too complicated, I’ll outsource responsibilities to qualified organizations or people. It all ties back to the value of my time compared to the cost of outsourcing. I’ll bet you are doing some form of the same thing.
Well, what about your clients?
Yes, retirement by its very nature brings more flexibility. If you have a client working 48 hours a week and they decide to fully embrace post-career life, about 40% of their awake time needs to be filled.
Sure, that gives them more time to unpack all kinds of details in their lives. But what if you could show them how to make the most of that free time by farming out and organizing typical life tasks today?
Enter the concept of “outsourcing retirement.” It’s not about simply hiring someone to do everything; it’s about strategically delegating or automating tasks that consume time and energy, freeing your clients to focus on what truly matters to them. This empowers them to embrace new experiences, reignite passions and create a retirement filled with purpose and fulfillment.
An effective approach is through an “outsourcing retirement appraisal.” This collaborative process helps clients identify areas where outsourcing can add value and guides them through ideas to implement into their life. In turn, you can analyze their expenses better, project any additional retirement needs, and optimize their distributions.
Industry regulations prohibit advisors from providing both investment management and personal bill paying to the same client. However, an outsourcing retirement appraisal can be a customer satisfaction opportunity to refer them to a trusted partner like a daily money manager or adding a bill-paying service employee to your practice. The same can apply to estate planning, taxes, insurance, and even elder care. The more services you can incorporate that draws in other qualified professionals or come directly through in-house expertise, the greater the client experience.
An appraisal opens components in their life that can be outsourced or automated based on need or want. From the basics of life that address the immediate and reoccurring, legacy planning, enhancing personal ease, and estimating lifestyle timelines – outsourcing retirement creates adaptable options for your clients and clarity for you on the management of their portfolio.
Covering the Basics
Many of us are familiar with the convenience of automating our bills and booking appointments well in advance. Ask if your clients if they are taking advantage of this, and encourage them to if they are not. It can save them – and you — more than time. For example:
Establishing automatic billpaying for utilities, mortgage, subscriptions, prescriptions and other recurring expenses will add consistency and predictability to their budgetary expenses. If you are helping them with budgeting, it’ll make your responsibilities, too.
Scheduling recurring appointments tied to regular activities (particularly around personal care) can also help them budget and take better care of themselves. Regular checkups may help your clients uncover potential health and dental issues earlier.
Helping your clients create predictability around the fundamentals of basic life tasks allows you to focus your conversations more keenly on aligning their portfolios to their lifestyle. My wife and I have been on the receiving end of this.
When our financial advisors asked us for our estimated annual expenditures, they felt we were a little low on our estimated budget. After going into greater detail, we ended up doubling our travel budget and increasing our medical expenses by 20%. Our team had a much better picture to run the models.
And after my wife and I intentionally discuss our long-term self-care needs with our advisors, I began scheduling in advance recurring check-up appointments with my physician, dentist and optometrist.
Amping Up the Administrative
Another way for clients to “outsource retirement” is to organize administrative responsibilities. Signatories should be using wills and trusts to help define their wishes and desires, usually after death. However, they can and should include actions that can bring clarity while they are still alive.
For example, a will encourages the client to take stock of all their assets as well as their liabilities. A trust creates peace of mind and a way for your client to foster open communication and understanding with their beneficiaries. Your assistance builds confidence with the entire family, creating generational financial management possibilities.
Before my mom passed away, she created an administrative binder detailing a variety of actions that needed to be addressed from short- and long-term perspectives. The notebook became a key center for information in the late stages of her personal care and in the disposition of the estate after her passing. It was affectionately known as the ops manual. Some specifics discussed in my mom’s ops manual were bill paying instructions, home maintenance schedules, location of important documents, and a list of friends to call upon her passing.
Many financial professionals include estate planning in their services. At the very least, you should have solid referral options for your clients. All the while, encourage them to organize some form of ops manual where they or anyone in the family can assist in completing nonessential tasks and activities, as well as having a central place for general information.
Personalizing the Personal
While there is some overlap between “the basics” and personal outsourcing, the latter category focuses on creating systems of dependability. Like automated bill paying for basic services like utilities, clients can go deeper by creating even more systems of dependability. There are all kinds of subscription plans to help automate the delivery of goods. Online shopping is easier than ever, with numerous plans to auto ship.
In our household, we have scheduled delivery of pet food and treats, carbon dioxide for our carbonated water, coffee, toothpaste and floss. Wherever there is an anticipated consumption pattern, and the price is right, it’s easy to automate the shopping and outsource the transportation.
I understand the reality: You do not have the time to sit with clients and help them set up the logistics for direct shipments of household goods. However, as you plant the seeds of personalizing their lives, you introduce consistency that breeds flexible thinking toward enriched experiences in retirement.
Professionalizing the Professional
As your clients age, even the most basic tasks, chores and routines can become more difficult and take longer to complete. My father enjoyed what he called, “putzing around in the yard.” As he got older, the maintenance became too daunting. It began to take more and more of his time. His marginal utility, or sense of satisfaction, became a negative value.
Encouraging your clients to at least estimate some timelines to outsource things like home repairs, accounting and tax preparation, legal advice, and, yes, even financial services (having you play a greater role) can be time satisfying for them. They may not have to experience the law of diminishing marginal utility, because they are finding their satisfaction in other pursuits.
Examining the Value
Financial advisors continue to tell me their client base is getting older. While they work diligently to bring younger clients into the fold, many realize their current customer mix is going to want and perhaps even demand more advice and service on how their life has meaning, structure and diversity.
Helping them to automate and outsource to create flexibility (and diminish the mundane) will create “client predictability” for you. This will be a time saver and increase client marginal utility — better known as satisfaction.
David Buck is the author of the book “The Time-Optimized Life,” owner of Kairos Management Solutions, LLC, and founder of the Infinity Lifestyle Design program. As a certified professional retirement coach (CPRC), David works with financial services providers helping their clients create a post-career lifestyle strategy. To learn more, contact him at dave@kmstime.com or visit Infinity Lifestyle Design.
