Key Takeaways
- Financial stress affects over a third of Americans, making retirement advisory solutions more critical than ever.
- Understanding a client’s money mindset is the first step toward building lasting financial empowerment strategies.
- SMART goal-setting turns vague retirement dreams into actionable, trackable milestones for retirement financial wellness.
- Client financial education to invest wisely and diversify supports long-term wealth management strategies with minimal effort.
For many, managing monthly expenses feels like an involuntary race. Data from the US Census Bureau’s household pulse survey indicates that over one-third of Americans find it difficult to maintain their monthly payments. In this context, the prospect of receiving guidance on retirement savings often feels like an unattainable goal, emphasizing the necessity of accessible retirement advisory solutions.
Northwestern Mutual’s 2025 Planning & Progress Study of 4,626 U.S. adults revealed that 69% of Americans—an 8% increase from 2023—attribute feelings of depression and anxiety to financial uncertainty. This mental health impact is most frequent among younger generations, affecting nearly 4 in 10 Gen Z (39%) and Millennials (38%) at least weekly. (Source)
The solution is not just budgeting advice. It is financial empowerment: giving clients the tools, the mindset, and the plan to take control of their financial future, a shift that is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of comprehensive employee financial wellness initiatives.
So, how can you help financially empower your clients? Here are four ways.
1. Help your client understand their money better
Childhood shapes attitudes towards personal finance. So among the first steps in helping a client become empowered is understanding their attitude toward finances. Financial empowerment strategies are about being intentional with money, so help them align their spending and savings with their long-term goals in a way that makes sense to them.
- If a client wants to start a business after retirement but is fearful of taking that first step, encourage them to put a little aside into savings each month to qualify for a loan or make the transition easier
- Help them identify whether fear or avoidance is quietly driving their spending and saving habits
- Encourage them to read books on personal finance, listen to podcasts, or watch videos that reinforce good financial habits outside of your sessions
To help bridge the gap between their current habits and future aspirations, consider enrolling them in or pointing them toward structured financial literacy programs.
2. Work with your client to help with goal setting.
Your client may have a destination in mind, but you can help with the road map. SMART plans can help empower them to set and achieve their financial goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These smaller, shorter-term goals can help realize the big dream faster and easier.
- Start with budgeting: help clients understand what they make and spend each month so they can make the right decisions to stay on track with their retirement financial wellness
- Break the larger retirement goal into shorter milestones that feel within reach
- Revisit and adjust goals as income or life circumstances change along the way
3. Show them how to make their money work for them
Even if clients feel discouraged by previous financial errors or a low credit score, they can still take steps toward a better future. As you empower clients with budgeting techniques, simultaneously teach them about building diversified portfolios for retirement savings.
- Help them understand that by investing their money wisely, they can build wealth with little effort on their part
- Walk them through how to maximize their 401(k) and IRA options, including contribution limits and employer matching
- Look out for smart investment opportunities that suit their income level and timeline
- Reinforce that good investing is about consistency and patience, not perfect timing or large lump sums
4. Help them track their progress
Clients need to understand how to monitor their money and see if their progress is in line with their financial goals post-retirement.
- Help clients learn how to track progress regularly and adjust their investments along the way
- Part of this is also helping them learn to cope with financial challenges that come their way, like a sudden expense on the house or car
- Planning ahead can help clients make smarter choices when faced with an emergency, so that one setback does not derail the bigger plan
Everyone has to start somewhere. As a retirement advisor, one needs to guide and empower clients in making the right choices to help improve economic stability in the long term.
Congruent Solutions is the partner of choice for US retirement plan providers and TPAs for technology solutions and outsourced plan administration services because we understand the changing needs required to support true financial wellness for employees. Ready to build better retirement outcomes together? Connect with our experts to get started.
