If most financial advisors were honest, few would say they got into the business out of a passion for retirement planning. It’s usually an interest in investing, an eye for the markets and for portfolio construction.
But it’s clear that smart retirement planning is at least equally complex as investing, and has a far greater impact on a client’s ultimate financial life than the marginal basis points of alpha an advisor might realize through picking the right stocks and bonds.
Given that most advisors aren’t prepared for dealing with the complexity of the more than 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 every day, JP Morgan saw a need to help them fill the knowledge gap. The firm’s 2015 Guide to Retirement is a 43-page reference book that provides advisors with a thorough treatment and analysis of social security policy, taxation issues, healthcare costs, inflation and spending patterns for retirees.
It also helps advisors dispel many of the myths around retirement. The Guide offers advisors quick-hit facts and figures to use as reference points during client conversations.
“I think a lot of the topics that retirement planning spans can be very complex for investors, so the ‘secret sauce’ with Guide to Retirement is it takes the complex and makes it simple and straightforward,” says Katherine Roy, a managing director and chief retirement strategist with JP Morgan Asset Management.
The Guide covers investor behaviors and best ways to get
them to save for retirement, spending strategies and plans for building a durable portfolio.
This year, JP Morgan distributed the 2015 guide to almost 40,000 advisors, doubling its reach compared to last year. The 2015 Guide is also available through an enhanced, interactive online version accessed by more than 113,000 financial advisors and individual investors since its release in February.
“Covering all the different topics with retirement planning covers can be really complicated for advisors, so Guide to Retirement helps them be confident they can cover any topic that a client is concerned about and really develop that relationship,” Roy says.