I had a fascinating conversation with an older financial advisor the other week. He’s in his late 50s, winding down his practice. He was tired.
He explained to me that the challenges in this profession never really change. You may have a mature practise, but the issues are the same as when you started. The same client fears pop up over and over again:
“Why is the market dropping?”
“I don’t want equities — they’re too volatile.”
“I want cash. It’s predictable. I can sleep at night.”
“Am I going to be OK?”
Of course, over longer periods, growth assets tend to outperform. But that’s not how most people experience investing. They see their portfolio drop and it feels like a crisis — because it is.
That portfolio represents their kids’ education, their aging parents’ care, their financial future. It’s not just money. It’s all the blood, sweat and sacrifice that went into earning it.
No wonder they worry. No wonder they panic. No wonder they call their advisor at all hours. And no wonder, after decades of trying to talk clients off the ledge, this advisor was tired.
But the part of the conversation that really stayed with me had nothing to do with markets. He told me how, as a student, he was sitting in a men’s locker room after a round of golf. He overheard a group of older men talking. They couldn’t retire. They didn’t have enough. They had to keep working.
He decided, right then, that his mission would be to make sure his clients never ended up in that situation. He’d make sure they would have enough.
And then he told me he had failed his clients. Repeatedly. Most of them.
He said he would sit down with clients, do the analysis, and tell them:
“You need to save R15,000 per month to retire comfortably.”
They’d nod, then say:
“Let’s start with R5,000 and see how it goes. We’ll top it up later.”
But they never did. That was 30 years ago.
And now, many of those clients are reaching retirement age and they can’t stop working. They are those men (and women) in that locker room, all those years ago.
But here’s the part that got me thinking:
That “extra” R10,000 a month? It wasn’t wasted. It was used to take their kids to Mauritius. For holidays. For adventures. For a bigger car to take all the family on roadtrip. For memories.
The advisor told me he didn’t do those things. He travelled locally with his family, saved the full R15,000, and now he’s retiring in his 50s. He did what he set out to do. His clients didn’t.
But he spoke of the tradeoff. He says his clients don’t regret doing those things. He can almost divide them in 2 – the ones that did and cant retire, and the ones that didn’t but now can.
So — did he really fail?
That’s the real tradeoff we face, isn’t it? Save now, enjoy later. Or enjoy now, work later. Some people can have both, but it’s very few.
Would you rather retire at 60 and spend time with your grown kids — who are now busy with their own lives?
Or would you rather keep working until 75, but have spent your earlier years seeing the world with your kids while they still wanted to hang out with you?
There’s no right answer. But there is a decision to be made.
So, think carefully. It’s not just about saving or retiring early. It’s about designing your life with intention.
What do you want?
