Until Robo-Advisors Learn Empathy

Written by: Chelsea Emery | Jeff Motske has one of the strongest ways to tease out client priorities I’ve heard in quite a while.

“What if?” Motske asks clients.

“What if one if your partner needs critical care? What if you want to move to Arizona? What if one of your kids starts a family on the other side of the country?,” the CEO of Trilogy Financial asks.

It’s deceptively simple, but an excellent method for getting at the heart of clients’ values and fears.

“These are critical questions,” Motske told me during a recent visit to Financial Planning offices in New York. “You want to ask them before things happen.”

Click here to read the full story.

Over the past century, life expectancy in the United States has dramatically increased, a fact that has profoundly impacted the financial security experienced during our golden years.

After World War II, the first generation of retirees were generally expected to live less than a decade after leaving the workforce. Now, the average American is living to be about 78.8 years old, and as a result retirement can last anywhere from 20 to 30 years, with some people spending more time retired than they did working.

That sort of longevity is wreaking havoc on the best of financial plans, particularly when combined with the rising costs of some of life’s most significant expenses.

Click here to read the full story.