Financial advisors, better than anyone, understand the best retirements are the ones that are planned and prepared for both financially and mentally. No one wants to have an unplanned retirement forced on them by illness or other circumstances. And yet, said 11-year MDRT member Marlon Vernon Teka De Leon, LUTCF, “We see a lot of examples of people in our profession who are like shoemakers with holes in their shoes. We forget ourselves.”

Retirement should be taken seriously by everyone, and even more so by financial advisors, since they’re setting an example for their clients and those around them. “I want my clients to feel they can emulate me,” said De Leon, whose practice services about 1,000 clients with a team of seven advisors supported by three office staffers. He lives and works in Trinidad and Tobago, where positive stories about retirement are hard to come by.

“In my country, 70% of people, by the time they get to age 65, unfortunately cannot retire,” he said.

Changing the retirement narrative

Even when the finances are in place, retirement is more than a financial goal, as that life phase carries a negative connotation of decline and not being a valuable contributor to society. That narrative may come from past generations, when life expectancy in the country was lower. In 1960, general life expectancy in Trinidad and Tobago was 66. When someone retired at 65, their retirement time was short. Life expectancy is on the rise throughout much of the world, so the retirement phase is now longer, and a bigger portion of our lives compared with previous generations. In addition, there are more options about how we work and how we retire. Yet, some financial advisors haven’t prepared themselves for what their retirement might look like.

De Leon, 47, has been planning and practicing for his retirement since he was 38. His goal is to be fully retired between the ages of 55 and 60.

“I believe that retirement is not necessarily a financial goal,” De Leon said. “For me, it’s a lifestyle goal, which is not only about age. It depends on the lifestyle that you want to have. Some people may choose to extend their working career or pivot to something else. I take a hybrid retirement approach where I practice retirement.”

Practicing for retirement

What does he mean by practicing retirement?

“I’m able to now enjoy the things that I want to do,” De Leon said. “This means enjoying the best of life when I’m still in the prime of my life. This means vacations, time with my kids, friends, family, trying out different foods and just doing different things.”

By doing those activities now, he can have a better idea of how much to put into annuities to sustain the lifestyle that he’s been practicing.

“I want to know that when I’m ready to land the plane, I’ll have enough runway,” De Leon said. “The last thing I want to do is to end up in a retirement where there’s more time than money. I want that time to be a testament of not just the planning that I’ve done for others, but also for myself.”

His retirement planning approach started in the same manner that he used to become a successful financial advisor — with discipline. “About 20% or 30% of what you earn alone before taxes should be going toward retirement,” he said.

Many people don’t save that much, but De Leon urges his clients to commit to that goal. “If this is the type of lifestyle that you want, you must sacrifice now so that you don’t have to sacrifice later,” De Leon said, adding that part of working on his hybrid retirement plan means evaluating it every five years.

De Leon learned about hybrid retirement from his mentor, 23-year MDRT member Sanjay Tolani, Ph.D., MBA, as well as from another local mentor who "has been living a hybrid retirement lifestyle for as long as I’ve known him,” De Leon said. “He takes a trip every three months. He can do that because he put aside 40% of what he earned, and he lives on 60% of his income. The other 40% goes into retirement and investments.”

Honoring choices

De Leon’s focus on his retirement planning is not an indication that he doesn’t enjoy his career. “I love the profession, but I love me more. I want to have the choice to retire,” he said. He also would like to spend more time with his family and loved ones. Because he worked so hard in his earlier years to support his family, he missed a lot of time with his kids when they were young.

However, if his clients or other financial advisors feel like that’s not the approach they want to take, De Leon understands. “If a person wants to work beyond that, I respect that choice. But I also must respect my choices as well. I would rather be prepared and decide not to take the opportunity than to have the opportunity to retire and not be prepared. I’m working on making sure that whatever I decide to do down the road, that I’m happy — whether I choose to extend my career beyond 60 or decide to do something else and leave the profession.”