Teaching executives about retirement is not that easy, they are a tough crowd to teach, they are most of the time young, successful, hard working people, but they have a tendency to live to much in the now, most of them don’t like to think to much about the future and lets face it, retirement, for them, is in the far far future. Teaching them that retirement is not the same as preparing for their demise, is the first step. On the contrary, retirement should mean the start of a new beginning, it should mean being able to do all the things they could not do now when they are young because of the restrictions of taking care of family and other general responsibilities.
Young people have a very narrow perspective of the future and when you go a little deeper into their point of view, you will find that they consider retirement and old age as something that happens to other people and not to them. This is why they don’t save their money for later, and sometimes even overspend and get into debt. It is your job to start teaching them that there is another, better way.
Visualize retirement in a workshop
Teaching retirement planning to executives can best be done by using interactive workshops, the young executives should be motivated to participate in a discussion about retirement plans, this way they are forced to think about their own pension years. Being actively involved in the process could help them see the benefits of long term saving and investing in their own future. It is a well know fact that the more successful executives become they find it more difficult to visualize a future in which they don’t make a lot of money.
When teaching about retirement planning try to challenge them, and fuel their curiosity to find the best possible retirement plans they can find, so they can start these contributions early. When the executives absorb the knowledge, they will be more enthusiastic to start early so the returns on their savings can grow and they can life as richer senior citizens.
A second stage beginning only for your own pleasure and fulfillment.
When teaching retirement planning to executives you can point out that when they start early, they would have built a considerable amount of money by the time they can quit there 9 to 5 jobs. With time on their hands and the money they saved they could start a second stage beginning and with a big difference, they can do it for their own pleasure and fulfillment.
When the first career was about putting meat on the table and provide for family and all the responsibilities that came with that, this second career can give them the freedom to do exactly what they want. Without the pressure about how much it pays back, this career would be about self realization and fun.
In short, it would be a nest egg they can spend when they start early with their retirement plan. And because its your job teaching retirement planning to these executives, challenge them to visualize their dreams.