Longevity risk is an issue that is being talked about as the baby boomer generation nears retirement, but founder of My Longevity, David Williams, believes not enough financial planners are addressing it with their clients.
My Longevity started as a research project three years ago. Since then, Williams has developed an online questionnaire called the SHAPE analyser that will give you an idea of what age you can expect to live to, depending on your surroundings, health, attitude, eating habits and the history of your parents. The free online tool has recently topped 15,000 completed tests and Williams currently has about 5,000 people on his database requesting more information. This is a testament, he believes, to the fact that more people are realising the ramifications of extended life expectancy. And while life tables can estimate the average lifespan of a community, they do not take into account individual variations.
Williams said the analyser is not expected to give an accurate reading of when you will die. Rather, it can help people plot where they sit on the life table curve and opens up the door to a range of questions they should be thinking about, such as their lifestyle and their attitudes (just a couple of the factors that have been proven to influence lifespan).
Williams said in the past planners have been too inclined to make assumptions and tell their clients what they think they should do based on these assumptions. But he believes planners should be using the client’s assumptions to help then paint a fuller picture of where they envisage they will be in the future.
Williams said in developing the concept, the challenge was to help clients own their timeline so that they and their planner would together to answer the first question that should be asked of the client: ‘How long are we planning for?’
“It’s got nothing to do with money and everything to do with trying to open the doors on the person’s future with them, so that you identify the critical factors that help them make decisions,” Williams said.
He believes the SHAPE analyser can be a powerful relationship-building tool, and mentioned a dental practice as an example of how the concept of creating a timeline for clients can improve the business.
“I told my dentist that I wanted a program that would tell me how I could keep my teeth intact for another 25 years,” said Williams, adding that the dentist agreed it could be done by adopting the correct measures.
“Then I asked: ‘What if all your 65-year-olds asked you that and you explained to them what measures had to be taken? Imagine what that would do for your practice! If you have the tools to help people manage their lives rather than just giving them the answers, then they will be with you forever and your practice will be very soundly based.”
