“As an industry, we have to help each and every client win their race so they can enjoy the retirement of their dreams.”

If you have read any of my previous blogs, you know that sports has always been a great motivator and teacher for me. I’ve learned a lot about winning, handling losses, and remaining disciplined in life and in business. As I approach the age of 60 – I can officially round up to that age – I continue to work hard at my fitness and wellness. My wife owns a wellness and personal training facility so being active continues to be part of my lifestyle. I’ve learned a lot about fitness over the last decade and maintaining my Certified Personal Trainer. To keep in shape, I run on a regular basis and I like to run half marathons. You might ask about marathons…I’ve four in my lifetime and simply don’t have the time or get the enjoyment out of the training regiment with my other responsibilities at work and home.

At the same time, I moved to Florida about two years ago. I love it in Florida and still feel like everyday is vacation as I walk my dog as the sun comes up in the Florida sky with brilliant pink, purple, and orange colors. But, I still consider Indianapolis, IN my home. I had the chance to run a half marathon this month in Indianapolis, The 500 Festival Mini Marathon. The “Mini” is one of the largest half marathons in the country with over 15,000 people running the course. The course takes you through downtown Indianapolis through Speedway into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and back downtown. It’s my absolute favorite race of all the half marathons I do during the year. I never get tired of running on the famous track where the Indianapolis 500 is run during Memorial Day weekend. The facility always takes my breath away when I enter it. When it is empty like during the “Mini”, it seems even bigger than when it is full of 400,000 race fans.

I wanted to run the race really well. I hadn’t been able to physically be at the event due to the pandemic and an injury last year. So, it was really important to train and be ready for a good performance. Unfortunately, training in Florida is not always what it is cracked up to be. I train at 5am on most days and the temperature is above 70 degrees with humidity readings above 60%. Performance is not as good as running in Indiana where the air temperature is 50 degrees or lower leading up to the race. But, the drop in temperatures on race day will helped me increase my speed and have a good time. In fact, I completed the 13.1 miles in under 2 hours. There were many people faster than me that day but I ran my race and beat the time I set as a goal. It was the first time I was under 2 hours since 2021.

Now, here are my learnings about retirement income planning from the sport of running so far in 2023 and the Indy Mini.

1. IT TAKES PLANNING

There is no way to jump off the couch and safely run a half marathon. In order to prepare, I ran over 950 miles in the previous 12 months to prepare for my half marathons during the spring season leading up to the Indy Mini. And, I trained in high temperatures and humidity. Of course there were days that I didn’t want to get up at 4:30am and run but I knew I had to do it to be ready. The same effort is necessary for retirement income planning.

As a financial professional, we have to engage our clients early in the process in order to increase the probability of success in retirement income planning. That means we have to motivate clients to save more, invest appropriately, and remain consistent in difficult market conditions. That’s not easy for the financial professional or the client. We have to instill confidence and consistency to the process for the client and keep their eyes on the goal of retirement. That means we have to create the vision and focus to change behaviors.

2. THINGS DON'T ALWAYS GO AS PLANNED

During my run, I have to take some nutrition and supplements. As a diabetic running for more than an hour, keeping glucose levels and energy in balance is a challenge. At the third mile, my plan was to begin taking my supplemental nutrition and electrolytes. While ingesting them, I began to choke on the course. I couldn’t breathe normally and thought I would have to run to a police officer for assistance. But the supplement cleared my throat…at least I thought. A half mile later, I start coughing and end up throwing up my nutrition. My heart rate was over 175 beats per minute which is high for me and I’m trying to catch my breath after throwing up. The first thought is that my day is ruined and I will never get the time I set as a goal.

Instead, I walked for 30 seconds to get my heart rate down and did a few breathing exercises to calm myself down. I restarted running and was able to get back on my scheduled pace with no additional issues. I had adverted disaster.

We all have something come up on the road to retirement. Maybe you get retired instead of getting to retire. Maybe a black swan event happens in the 5 years before or after you retire and you won’t be able to fully retire without working a few more years. What matters is that you are prepared and know how to respond. Financial professionals always should mitigate as much risk as possible but there events that are beyond everyone’s control. We have to know how to respond. That requires a process – an Investment Policy Statement for example – and discipline to follow the process.

3. RECOVERY IS IMPORTANT

We also need to know how to recover when something happens. That isn’t just responding and acting immediately with purpose and intent. During severe market volatility, our clients may not know what to do in the “heat of the moment”. Getting them on the path to responsiveness means that we have to motivate toward the correct behavior. Showing clients that their income is protected and they can remain invested is a great position to be in whenever a catastrophic event happens in our retirement journey.

Recovery while running is super important. It’s when your muscles repair themselves, you get stronger, and get faster. These moves may seem really small but they add up over time. Our clients need to recover as they take the necessary steps and actions to have a successful retirement. FIAs provide that recovery when markets correct. In an ever-increasing complex world of indices, the financial professionals’ role only continues to grow. Clients are not understanding the importance of the make-up of the indices in products today and how they can help reduce portfolio volatility by helping to recover annually.

Just like repairing your muscles, having an intentional recovery plan can build wealth. Putting a systematic approach to preventing market declines in portfolios provides confidence, shows innovative thinking, and gains client respect that you are empathetic to their concerns.

4. SUCCESS IS NOT LINEAR

In life, success does not happen in a straight line. It never has been the case with my running. We go through seasons in life and sport. There are times when I make tremendous gains in my running and feel confident. There are other times when I feel I am working as hard as ever but not seeing results. I don’t get quicker or my stamina doesn’t increase. It’s frustrating.

The key is to recognize those frustrations and make adjustments to training. At times, I have needed to reduce my mileage to allow more recovery in order to improve. The same goes for saving for retirement. Taking some gains off the table can be valuable to the long term wealth accumulation plan. Not giving up the gains you have earned in exchange for a limited upside return might seem like stunting your accumulation but it can be very good in the long term.

Your accumulation might plateau but it might not go backwards which is a good position in market declines. Having steady and consistent growth can be just as rewarding versus going backwards and making up the difference.

5. ENJOY SUCCESS

There are always times when we fail so it’s important to make sure you celebrate the successes and visualize the success of your efforts. As I am running at 5am, I am visualizing what the effort is doing for me – more energy for the day, faster half-marathon times, working toward a potential personal best time in an upcoming event.

What does retirement look like for your clients? What do they aspire to be in their retirement years? People want to follow other people that can make them the person they want to become. As a financial professional, we have to speak to our clients’ aspirational identity and remind them what success looks like. We also have to speak to what failure to act might mean for them (just a little bit of this conversation goes a long way).

But at the end of the day, you know that if you put in the work, time, effort and energy, you will with your race. It’s important to understand that we all have different races to run. As an industry, we have to help each and every client win their race so they can enjoy the retirement of their dreams.

I was able to beat my goal time during the Indy Mini because I worked hard at the preparation. It wasn’t easy, it didn’t go exactly as planned, the weather was not as predicted, I got sick during the event, but I reach the finish line at my desired time minus a couple of minutes. The exact same thing can happen for your retirement income planning clients: They can have a lot go wrong but they can get to their finish line faster than they thought with proper planning.