If your 60-year-old client feels 51, are you having the wrong conversation?

Most people feel younger than the age printed on their driving licence. Among 45- to 75-year-olds, however, the gap is almost a decade.

Research from RBC Wealth Management found that 72 per cent of people in this age group feel younger than they are, by an average of nine years. That is probably good news for their general outlook. Pensions, protection needs and HMRC remain rather more interested in the date on the paperwork.

RBC describes this stage as the third quarter, or Q3, of life. Its research suggests that many people within it are not giving their finances much regular attention. In the past 12 months, 18 per cent had set aside no time to consider their financial position, while another 25 per cent had done so only once or twice.

The risk is that important decisions are postponed until the available choices have narrowed. A delayed pension review can mean missed contributions or retirement plans based on unrealistic assumptions. Protection arranged years ago may no longer reflect the family’s circumstances, while estate planning is generally easier before illness, incapacity or bereavement forces the issue.

The difficulty for advisers is not simply getting clients to act. It is starting the conversation in a way that feels relevant to somebody who does not identify with the stage of life suggested by their age.

A 60-year-old who feels 51 may switch off when presented with ‘later-life planning’. Retirement, long-term care and estate planning can sound like subjects for somebody older, even when the financial decisions need attention now.

Start with the next stage, not later life

Personal events appear to be much more effective at prompting action than routine reminders. More than four in five respondents, 83 per cent, said an event had caused them to reconsider what mattered most, including their health, finances or overall sense of purpose.

Illness, bereavement, redundancy, divorce, children leaving home or the arrival of grandchildren can all bring previously avoidable questions rather closer. By then, clients may be making important decisions while also dealing with an emotional or practical upheaval.

Advisers need to be visible before that happens and easy to reach when it does. Regular contact and useful content can help, but the language matters too. A conversation about preserving choices, supporting family or deciding what the next stage should look like may land better than an invitation to discuss later life.

The work that follows may be familiar: review pension contributions and retirement assumptions, check that protection remains suitable and establish whether estate-planning arrangements still reflect the client’s wishes. The difference is that the discussion begins with the client’s life as they see it, rather than the age bracket into which the industry has placed them.

For smaller firms, being available for those conversations creates its own pressure. Client meetings and emotional support take time, while the research, calculations and suitability reports still need completing. The Timebank can handle that paraplanning work behind the scenes, giving advisers more time to deal with the part that cannot be delegated.

Clients are entitled to feel nine years younger. The adviser’s job is to make sure their financial plans do not fall nine years behind.