Retirement Income Redesigned: Master Plans for Distribution: An Adviser's Guide for Funding Boomers' Best Years

Chapter 2. Maslow Meets Retirement

mitch anthony and lewis j. walker

Self-Actualization," wrote Abraham Maslow, "is the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming." If we're fortunate, that desire can be rekindled even when we thought it was lost.

At age 52, Briggs Matsko was about to retire from his financial planning business. A friend heard about Matsko's plans and sent him The New Retirementality: Planning Your Life and Living Your Dreams at Any Age You Want (Dearborn Trade, 2001) by Mitch Anthony. Matsko said the book not only changed his life but also gave him a new passion and mission for the work he thought he was going to leave. "I had an epiphany when I read The New Retirementality and realized that the most foolish thing I could do is retire early and go into a life of wondering how to make a difference," said Matsko. "The opportunity for making a difference was right there in front of me in every client conversation. I just needed to change the focus from strictly numbers to a conversation about life followed by a numbers inquiry."

Matsko began telling clients about his awakening and giving them a copy of The New Retirementality to read before they came in for their appointment. He told them to come prepared first to discuss the sort of life they desired to live before they began a conversation about what to do with their money. When they came for their appointments, they were already primed to talk about the life they ...