- Helping clients set goals and frequently monitoring them can reflect positively on you.
- January is an excellent time for clients to set both wealth + health resolutions.
- Worksheets and checklists help you support your clients’ goals.
As 2018 gets underway, it could be a good time to check in with your clients about both their financial and physical health. Read on to learn how to help them prepare for annual checkups with you and their family physicians.
After an annual financial review with your clients, you should better understand their financial desires and help them personalize strategies that work toward their goals. These tips can help them get ready for their annual financial checkup with you.
Ask clients to gather financial information
Before they schedule their appointment with you, you can have them collect financial information and thoughts about goals by using the 12 Planning Points to Review checklist from Transamerica. The worksheet helps them track changes from the past year and asks questions about current investments, goals, tax situations, retirement contributions, and other common financial topics.
You can also point them to our Retireometer and retirement calculator to see if they are on a path to having enough money in retirement.
Before setting an appointment, ask them to collect the following.
1. Financial account information:
- Current balances.
- Investment allocations.
- 2017 annual rates of return.
2. Loan and debt data (balances, interest rates, and payoff schedules) about:
- Credit cards.
- Mortgages.
- Car loans.
- Other significant debt.
With this information, they are ready to make an appointment with you. At the meeting start, it can help to establish the purpose — a good overview of the current financial situation and 2018 goals. By simply guiding clients in setting goals, you can help keep those objectives realistic and attainable.
Encourage clients to see their physicians
In addition to their financial goals for 2018, you may want to encourage clients to see their family physician for a physical checkup. Now is a good time to make a fresh start with health-related resolutions. Support clients to prepare for that appointment by making a list of health-related questions. Feel free to share this list with your clients:
1. What are your recommendations for physical exercise, smoking, and diet?
2. Am I sleeping enough? If not, how can I sleep more and better?
3. Is my blood pressure in a healthy range? If not, how do I get it there?
4. What are my heart attack and stroke risks? If high, how do I decrease these?
5. What is my risk of diabetes? If it’s high, how do I decrease this?
6. Is my weight in a healthy range? What are the health risks if it’s not?
7. Are there recommended lab work tests or health screenings for someone of my age and health condition?
8. Are my current medications still the best ones for my conditions?
9. What do you recommend I do about ________? (Add your “embarrassing” health issue here -- odd rashes, abnormal bowel movements, libido, incontinence, sexually transmitted infections, etc. Doctors have heard and seen it all and want to help you understand all of your health issues).
Give your clients a clear path to goal setting in 2018 with these tips, questions, and appointments. Remind them that you’ll check in throughout the year to help motivate them to wealth + health success.
Things to Consider:
- You can support your clients by helping them determine their 2018 financial goals.
- Consider sharing this list of health checkup questions with your clients.
- You may want to suggest clients gather wealth + health questions for their annual checkups.
Neither Transamerica nor its agents or representatives may provide tax or legal advice. Anyone to whom this material is promoted, marketed, or recommended should consult with and rely on their own independent tax and legal advisors regarding their particular situation and the concepts presented herein.
Transamerica Resources, Inc. is an Aegon company and is affiliated with various companies which include, but are not limited to, insurance companies and broker dealers. Transamerica Resources, Inc. does not offer insurance products or securities. The information provided is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as insurance, securities, ERISA, tax, legal or financial advice or guidance. Please consult your personal independent advisors for answers to your specific questions.