Industry surveys of advisers and clients reveal planning gaps.

Longevity is a looming concern for us all: a new reality that’s disrupting assumptions about education, work, family, health — and especially long-term financial planning. 

You might think, then, that financial services companies would be out there on the leading edge, running new models for lifetime income strategies and long-term care needs (and supporting retirees’ plans for purpose and well-being). 

In fact, industry surveys show a significant gap in the topics advisers and clients say they’ve discussed, as well as disparities around which issues need to be prioritized.

“Clients today are expecting more comprehensive financial planning than just investment management,” says Matt Patterson, vice president of operations at Brighton Jones, one of the largest independent registered investment advisers, or RIAs. “But in the context of longevity, are those clients really getting the full scope of services that you’d want out of a financial adviser right now? I think the answer, broadly, is no.”

For retirees and retirement savers alike, this is an urgent concern. It’s important to understand how and why these disconnects show up in the planning process, in order to be your own best advocate.

Startling Disparities

One of the most vivid illustrations of the longevity planning gap was captured by the 2024 Protected Retirement Income and Planning study (PRIP), published annually by the Alliance for Lifetime Income by LIMRA.

• 98 percent of financial professionals say they talk about protected income with clients (e.g., Social Security, pensions, annuities), but only 69 percent of clients say that’s the case.
• 90 percent of financial professionals say they talk with some clients about coping with the effects of cognitive decline later in life, yet only 27 percent of clients say their financial adviser brought up that topic.
• In a strange reversal, nearly 60 percent of investors believe they may need independent living, assisted living or nursing home care in the future — yet only 34 percent of advisers estimate that certain clients are anticipating needing such care.

What could account for these communication gaps? Some studies suggest that a lack of financial literacy may put clients at a disadvantage — and that could be a contributing factor. Another issue that some advisers are quietly raising: Many are incentivized to bring in more clients, not to go deeper with the clients they have.

Michael Finke, PhD, a LIMRA Retirement Income Institute Fellow, suggests that the seismic changes in retirement planning have also set some financial professionals back on their heels, starting with the basic notion of longevity itself. “Now we need to plan for a lifespan of 94 for a man and 97 for a woman, to have only a 20 percent chance of outliving savings,” Finke says. “That’s mind-blowing for a lot of advisers, the idea of planning for that.”

“Now we need to plan for a lifespan of 94 for a man and 97 for a woman, to have only a 20 percent chance of outliving savings,” Finke says. “That’s mind-blowing for a lot of advisers, the idea of planning for that.”

To be fair, this is uncharted territory for everyone, he points out. “Most advisers see their job as managing wealth and helping people meet their retirement goals,” Finke says. “But oftentimes these goals are things like travel that are associated with the front end of retirement. There’s really not much thought given to planning for life in your nineties.”

Crisis Creates Opportunity

The good news is there’s an upside to building the plane as you fly it. You don’t have to abide by the old rules. And there’s room for today’s retirees and pre-retirees to spark a new longevity-centered financial conversation. 

It might help today’s investors to know that the evolving landscape of longevity planning is also reflected in the great wealth management migration: the steady shift of financial professionals breaking away from traditional broker-dealers to start or join independent RIAs. Compensation is one driver, but so is the ability to have quality interactions with clients, says Patterson. 

Taken together, it’s an unprecedented set of challenges that advisers and clients are facing — along with the roughly 27 percent of Americans who don’t work with a professional adviser. That includes those who get some guidance from workplace plan providers or are taking a DIY approach. 

Whichever path you choose, says Suzanne Norman, a LIMRA Retirement Income Institute Fellow, it’s essential to know that a big part of longevity planning rests in your hands. “Given some of the gaps in traditional financial planning around longer lives, it’s important for each of us to be able to hold that conversation,” she says. A couple of free tools will get you going:

• The Longevity Illustrator. This brief questionnaire, created by the Society of Actuaries, provides a rough estimate of your lifespan. Norman notes that the site only requires a handful of basic inputs, and while it’s not a crystal ball, it offers an essential starting point for other longevity-related calculations.
• The RISE Score. The Retirement Income Security Evaluation Score was developed by actuarial firm Milliman to assess how well your retirement portfolio may be able to cover expenses. “It gives you something like a credit score that reflects your retirement readiness,” Norman says, and can help you think further ahead. 

Last, Patterson notes that there’s a debate in financial services about whether longevity planning should be another set of skills for financial advisers to acquire or a separate role. “Ideally it would be your adviser,” Patterson says, “but either way, having someone in that life-planning role can significantly add to your quality of life as you get older.” 

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MP Dunleavey is an award-winning journalist, columnist for SCL Magazine and a regular contributor to the Kiplinger Retirement Report. She was a New York Times personal finance columnist and a contributing editor to Money magazine.