After nearly ten years of trying to help people to be better prepared for life in some form of retirement, it’s frustrating to see that most organisations in the Retirement Planning Industry still promote the belief that retirement is all about having enough money. It’s amazing that an industry can still get away with only offering its clients half of a solution.
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The Banking Royal Commission and the Productivity Commission’s recent report on the Superannuation Industry both indicate that the Banking and Superannuation Industries are more interested in themselves than the wellbeing of their clients.
It suits them to focus on the financial aspects of retirement because that’s easy for them and that’s where the profits are. The fact that most of their clients go into retirement blissfully unaware of the various lifestyle challenges and opportunities they are likely to face, is just too bad.
The reality is that while having enough money for a comfortable retirement is a hell of a lot better than not having enough, most people are likely to face unexpected challenges from lifestyle issues like – key relationships, health, purpose in life, loss of identity, boredom to name a few.
There are some positive signs that change is starting to happen. There is an increasing number of university academics doing research on retirement and reporting that lifestyle issues are very important if people are going to be happy in retirement.
This research will have an impact on banks, super funds and financial planners and in years to come, these organisations will be offering a range of more holistic products. You could certainly ask your planner about what lifestyle challenges should you be thinking about. Probably a better solution would be to check out www.retirementbooks.com.au.
These give you lots of information and expert advice that you won’t get from your financial advisor.