The defined contribution (DC) community, including employers, advisors, providers and even workers, focus on preparing financially for retirement, which is important. Mark Chamberlain, Founder and CEO of Lakeside Wealth Management Group in Northern Indiana, discusses how he helps his clients prepare emotionally for what might be the most dramatic social change people face in their lives but is rarely discussed.
Chamberlain focuses his attention on wealth management while colleagues like Tim Rice and Tim Vershure, both TPSU Adjunct Lecturers, focus on working with employers and employees at the workplace. Mark is often surprised that people do not think about life after work and how it will affect their personal relationships and social networks. So Mark sits down with clients and asks three questions:
- Are you prepared to dramatically incre3ase the amount of time you spend with your spouse especially if they are also retiring?
- How are you going to replace the social network you have developed at work?
- What are you going to do with your time after working 40 hours/week for 35 years? Men are particularly challenged.
To help his clients prepare for retirement, Chamberlain has set up an informal mentoring program. He asks people already in retirement to speak with people about to retire about how they dealt with their new life. People are prompted to speak about their biggest mistakes and their biggest surprises. For larger companies, creating internal mentoring programs might be even more relevant.
So what should employers care? One of the biggest questions facing workers these days is whether ordinary people actually get to retire anymore, especially in private companies without a defined benefit plan. Though younger workers might get discouraged if opportunities are not available because older workers cannot afford to retire, it’s also very discouraging. Bringing retired workers back to discuss issues in retirement not only provides valuable lessons but shows that the company cares about their employees’ retirement with limited costs, liability and work.
