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Retirement planning: Someday is not a day of the week

Retirement planning is serious business, but a great deal of research has shown that Americans aren't dealing with it seriously. When it comes to retirement planning, we are a nation of procrastinators.

What parent hasn’t had the leisure of a late Sunday afternoon interrupted by a child’s sudden plea for help with a project or paper due first thing Monday morning?
For their procrastination, children usually receive a stern warning that if they ever pull such a stunt again, there will be serious consequences.
All of us procrastinate occasionally, of course. And when we do, we allow less important tasks to take up the time that should be devoted to more important things.
Psychologists say that procrastination is one way we cope with the anxiety of starting or completing a task, or making a decision.
Adding procrastination to the retirement-planning mix always produces a bad result because wasted time and lost opportunities never make tomorrow better.
Retirement planning is serious business, but a great deal of research has shown that Americans aren’t dealing with it seriously. When it comes to retirement planning, we are a nation of procrastinators.
I pity financial planners or advisers who try to use logic, reason and facts to persuade procrastinating prospects and clients that retirement planning and saving are priorities. Serious procrastinators probably have emotional issues that prevent the cold, hard facts from penetrating their brains.
I asked several advisers what they do when their clients ignore performance metrics, retirement calculations and all the warning signs pointing to a dismal retirement — and then go out and buy an expensive boat or a sports car.
The consensus was that while financial professionals aren’t trained as therapists and don’t feel comfortable playing Sigmund Freud, they still must try to understand a client’s fears and perceptions before tackling retirement-related investment issues.
My hat is off to these professionals, because based on the client excuses that they shared with me, they have their hands full trying to influence procrastinating clients to do the right thing.
Here are some popular excuses for putting off retirement planning:
• “I am just too busy.”
These folks claim that they don’t have time to create a plan. They think that they will take care of it later.
Unfortunately, before they know it, several years have gone by. The best advice to these people is simply to carve out a specified time from their busy schedule and get to work.
• “It is too soon to think about retirement.”
This excuse is often given by those in their 20s and 30s. To them, being 65 or older is almost inconceivable.
Because retirement is so far off, they want to enjoy their life now. But, as we all know, retirement rolls around all too quickly, and starting early is the best way to ensure that one’s later years really will be golden.
Other notables include:
• “I can’t do it now; my finances are a mess.”
• “I plan to work until I drop dead.”
• “My parents died young, so there is no need to think of retirement.”
• “I don’t have enough money to start planning for retirement.”
• “My family will take care of me.”
• “I don’t want to think about it.”
Given the range of reasons to procrastinate, what is an adviser to do?
The answer is to find a way to weave a little therapy into your financial and retirement planning. This will help you break the procrastination cycle — even temporarily.