It takes me about five hours to “retire” a client.

That sounds dramatic, but I mean it quite literally.

By the time a client sees my retirement proposal, the final recommendation can look surprisingly simple: a few numbers, some projections, a strategy and a path forward. What they do not see is the work that happened before that.

After a meeting, my aim is a plan that does not depend on life going perfectly.

Why the work matters

Many of the people I work with are doctors, senior executives, lawyers and business owners. They are capable people, used to dealing with complexity at work.

But a strong income and professional success can sometimes hide weaknesses in the financial structure underneath. A plan may look perfectly fine until you test it against real life:

  • What happens if there is a health interruption?
  • What if markets fall at exactly the wrong time?
  • What if there is an unexpected career change?
  • What if the income you assumed would continue for another ten years suddenly stops?

Even two people earning similar incomes can need very different strategies. Someone with stable pay and a predictable career path can take an approach that would make little sense for someone whose income varies, or whose time and stress are already stretched to the limit.

Those five hours are where much of the unglamorous work happens.

What the plan is relying on

I look at what the plan leans on too heavily, whether that is one income, one industry, one asset or one assumption.

Any of those can be fine on its own. The risk is when everything depends on it holding.

Different goals, different solutions

I look at how each goal behaves. A lump sum is different from a monthly need. A goal five years away is different from one twenty years away. Retirement income, children’s education and leaving something behind should each be solved in the way that suits them, even when they sit in the same plan.

I also compare possible solutions, and I set many of them aside. Most are perfectly reasonable on their own, and a poorer fit for that particular person.

After you decide

Even after a client decides to go ahead, the work continues. Putting the plan in place takes time, and a good plan only stays good if we keep reviewing it as life changes: a new child, a career move, a health scare, a market that does something nobody expected.

Why five hours

When I first started in this industry, this process took me far longer than five hours.

Getting it down to five took years of doing the same work over and over, improving the process each time, and becoming clearer about what matters and what does not.

So yes, it takes me about five hours to “retire” a client. Retirement is easy enough to describe. The time goes into making sure the plan still holds when life does not go to script.