Financial planning for retirement is often viewed through a technical lens – asset allocation, tax wrappers, withdrawal strategies. And yes, those are critical.
But as Christine Benz (Director of Personal Finance and Retirement Planning at Morningstar and author of ‘How to retire’) said on our Money:Mindshift podcast, ‘Retirement planning isn’t just a maths problem.’
This helped show me that it’s a life transition. One that involves identity shifts, changing relationships, evolving purposes, and a new rhythm of time. The numbers are only part of the story.
It’s about interlocking plans
Christine’s work invites us to think holistically. In her book ‘How to Retire – 20 lessons for a happy, successful, and wealthy retirement’, she draws from conversations with a wide range of experts, on everything from social connection and housing to cognitive health and purpose.
For me the message is clear: that advisers might want to start considering other possible ways to support their clients even more than what they're doing today. This might be, for example, looking at potential routes to offer more than a single financial plan. Clients need multiple, interlocking plans: a financial plan, a purpose plan, a relationship plan and a health plan.
I don’t think that advisers need to be experts in all of these. But they can certainly help shaping these plans by asking the right questions. That’s because retirement planning becomes more meaningful when it’s framed around the life a client wants to live, not just the portfolio they’re managing.
Looking at retirement as multiple phases
Another core insight Christine emphasised is that retirement isn’t a single chapter. It unfolds in stages:
- The go-go years: Active, often travel-rich, high-energy.
- The slow-go years: Simpler routines, closer to home.
- The no-go years: When care needs and health costs rise.
Each stage comes with different emotional and practical needs. Take housing as an example:
- In the go-go years, clients may want to relocate, downsize, or split time between locations. They may dream of moving to warmer climates or being near leisure activities. These are ideal years to enjoy life, travel and use all the benefits of living without an alarm clock.
- In the slow-go years, priorities shift. Proximity to family, community support, and healthcare access become more important. A once-ideal location might feel isolating.
- In the no-go years, the focus turns to safety, accessibility, and care. That might mean adapting the home, moving closer to children, or exploring assisted living.
We all know that advice is more than helping with strategic location decisions, cash flow planning, downsizing logistics. And that it also includes coaching – navigating changes, revisiting goals and supporting transitions. This is where your listening skills are so important – helping and supporting clients articulate what matters most as their energy and options change.
Encouraging clients to explore and experiment
Some clients enter retirement with clarity. Others are still figuring it out. Christine advocates encouraging experimentation. That might mean:
- Trying out hobbies or side projects before retiring fully
- Relocating temporarily before making a big move
- Taking sabbaticals to test new life rhythms
These, in her view, are forms of retirement planning. And advisers can help frame them as such. Consider asking clients: what do you want to test before you commit? In further conversation with Christine, she explains why sabbaticals are a form of retirement planning – funding one may be a spending goal you cover in a financial plan of clients of yours who retire in the next few years.
Helping clients shift their mindset
One of the biggest hurdles we explored in our podcast episode was the psychological barrier many face when moving from saving to spending. Christine shared how she personally, identifying her money personality as that of a ‘saver’, would find it mentally hard to draw down on investments accrued over a lifetime (we had a similar discussion with Dan Haylett, a qualified financial planner and retirement coach, in our ‘How to spend’ episode).
I feel this is where behavioural framing matters. You’re not just giving permission to spend. You’re not only helping clients redefine what success looks like, but helping them to see giving as part of the plan and understand that purpose, not just judgement, defines value.
In her book, Christine explains why she is a fan of the ‘bucketing approach’. I feel it's got nothing to do with optimising returns. Rather, it's because it aligns with how people think and feel. It gives structure, predictability and peace of mind. A way to see the near-term without losing sight of the whole.
The adviser’s role is evolving
It’s clear after talking to Christine that clients need more than technical excellence. They need guides through complexity. Confidants who understand the emotional journey of retirement. Sounding boards who ask the questions they haven’t thought to ask. Because retirement isn’t just a maths problem. It’s a human problem – and it takes one to plan and solve it.