People Need Help Spending Money

As financial advisors we spend a ton of time collecting client’s goals for “the future”. I am certain that most financial planning software is literally overflowing with goals that clients will never bother to act on. Not because they can’t afford to, but because nobody is pushing them to pull the trigger.

Can you imagine spending 30 years doing something regularly, having it work out really well, then one day be expected to start doing the exact opposite?

This is exactly what an entire generation of recently, or soon to be, retired people is expected to do. Transitioning from saving and investing for the future, to withdrawing and spending for today. This really is an epic mindset switch.

The financial advice community really loves to talk about “investor behavior”. How many books and blog posts are written, my colleagues included, about how big a part behavior plays in a successful wealth accumulation plan? But what about when the accumulation part of your plan is done?

The financial advice industry has spent the last several decades doing everything possible to bring new investor dollars in. There are more than $25 trillion dollars currently sitting in qualified accounts in the US that needs to be spent on vacations, weddings, college educations, and all the other line items collecting dust in a financial plan somewhere.

I’ve personally made this a major area of focus for my client relationship, as well as for my team of advisors here at Ritholtz Wealth Management. Helping clients become more comfortable spending from their savings needs to become a much larger piece of the conversation.