SuccessDNA: A New Model for Retirement

The joy of retirement comes in those everyday pursuits that embrace the joy of life; to experience daily the freedom to invest one's life-long knowledge for the betterment of others; and, to allocate time to pursuits that only received, in years of working, a fleeting moment. 

– Byron Pulsifer

In the course of my 35 years as a wealth advisor, I worked with many clients who were transitioning into their retirement years. One, in particular, stands out. This busy CEO had great expectations for his retirement and looked forward to the day he could finally travel for pleasure and spend his days leisurely picking stocks for his investment portfolio. 

When the time eventually came for him to retire, he and his wife took off on an African Safari with their whole family to enjoy the freedom and opportunity of non-business travel.

After that trip, they rented a condo in Florida for the winter and soaked up the sunshine and played lots of golf. When spring came, and he was back in the city to review his portfolio with me, I was shocked to find my client despondent and bored. The once confident and focused CEO appeared insecure and out of sorts. I wondered what could cause such a drastic change, so I asked him what happened. 

It turned out that like most facing their retirement years, he had bought into the traditional notion of what that would look like—create a secure financial foundation through hard work and look forward to future days of freedom, fun, and relaxation. Unfortunately, his reality didn’t resemble the glossy, magazine ads that portray a glamorous, carefree retirement lifestyle.

I saw this situation play out over and over with several clients and realized that advisors and clients alike focus so much on the financial aspects of retirement that the non-financial parts slip by unnoticed.

When it was my time to seriously consider my options for retirement, I had a decision to make. I’d seen the disillusionment that retirees were facing and wanted to help. With my background in working closely with retirees, I felt I could support them by bridging the gap that so many were facing.  So, when I began transitioning my wealth practice to my partner and successor, I decided to do something about this skewed perception. 

When I began the process of creating SuccessDNA, I wasn’t sure what it would look like. While I wanted the lives of my clients to continue to be rewarding, enjoyable, and successful, I also faced the question of how I could continue to help them at this stage of their journey. 

I realized that the key to a happy retirement is different for each individual. Some are content to catch up on Netflix, babysit the grandchildren or go to the gym at 9 am instead of 6 am. Others find themselves completely rudderless, losing track of which day it is, and find themselves bored without the challenges and stimulation of their workdays.

So, the question became, “Is there a way to predict a best-case retirement scenario that’s unique to each individual?”  Since lifestyle and expectations vary for each person, I knew that success in retirement hinges on how this question.is answered. 

The challenge for me then was to find out how to identify the differences in needs, wants, or driving motivations? 

The search for this answer led me to the discovery of a wonderful tool—an assessment that uncovers the essence of a person and points to what they will enjoy the most and excel at as well. 

In my next article, we’ll take a closer look at the unique tool that has helped many of my clients to successfully navigate the next step of their retirement journey.