The Right Answers To The Wrong Questions

FINANCIAL PLANNERS – What happens when your client asks you something like this??

‘What’s the most tax-efficient way to access my pension at age 65 if I’m a higher-rate taxpayer, close to the lifetime allowance, and need to take half as a lump sum and the other half as income?’

Now, if I posted this in one of the many Financial Adviser Facebook groups, I’d get an exciting plethora of answers from many well-meaning Advisers.️

And there’s a good possibility that your technical ‘Adviser mind’ is already racing to formulate the outline of a withdrawal strategy.

Well, when I hear this kind of question my mind also races with the exciting possibilities.️

You might be thinking we should be talking about annuities or drawdown or UFPLS but that’s the last thing on my mind.

I’m interested in the BIG QUESTION.

Which for me, is…

‘Why age 65?’

Was that what you focused on?

Think about it.

‘Why not 64?’

‘Or 66?’

‘Or 62.5?’

‘Or today?’

Why, out of all the days in this person’s life, have they chosen the day of their 65th birthday? Surely the last thing anyone wants to do on their birthday is deal with a Financial Advice matter.

Even if we narrow it down to ages 60-70, that gives us around 3,650 days to choose from.

From all of those, they chose that specific day.

So, what is the relevance of that day for them?

They didn’t just happen to choose 65—it’s a number that’s been influenced by something else. Maybe implicitly. Maybe explicitly. But they didn’t come up with it through careful analysis of their personalised Lifestyle Financial Plan.

Which means they’ve chosen a generic age, which signals to you that their plan is generic.

And so, any technical answer you provide about annuities and drawdown is, by default, incorrect.

In fact, any technical answer you give is wrong because it’s the answer to the wrong question.

And you don’t know the right question – yet.

Our first response must always be to challenge the question because that’s where the true answer really lies.

If we ask, ‘Why age 65?’ and then follow the conversation up valley and down dale in their emotional and subconscious mind, you’ll uncover a story that’s far more fascinating than annuities vs drawdown vs UFPLS.

You’ll uncover the emotional triggers, blockages, and desires that have tangled their thoughts so much that they feel paralysed—willing to accept a generic answer to a generic question, even if it doesn’t align with what they truly want for their life and lifestyle.

If you can show them that, you’ll have a client for life.

Because you help no one by giving the right answer to the wrong question.