This week, Jack Sharry talks with Suzanne Schmitt, Managing Director at Next Chapter. Suzanne brings a wealth of knowledge from her extensive career at firms such as Fidelity Investments, New York Life Insurance, Prudential Financial, and Lincoln Financial. At Next Chapter, Suzanne reframed and realigned needs to outcomes that benefited advisors and three generations of clients and their families. Today, she leads the NextGen engagement and growth strategies.

Suzanne talks with Jack about the implications of aging and its impact on consumers, advisors, and the industry as a whole. She shares key findings from Next Chapter's advisor study, which highlights the industry's need to better prepare advisors to navigate complex family dynamics, health events, caregiving challenges, and solo aging.

In this episode:

(00:00) - Intro
(01:49) - Suzanne's career background
(04:04) - Next Chapter's advisor study
(05:44) - Key findings from Next Chapter's advisor study
(08:54) - How Next Chapter addresses the aging population issue
(12:50) - Helping advisors connect with families during moments that matter
(18:11) - Age and gender weighted revenue
(21:57) - Highlights from the Next Chapter's white paper
(24:28) - Suzanne's key takeaways
(25:05) - Suzanne's interests outside of work

Quotes

"The industry is not adequately prepared to help advisors engage families on health and non-financial matters. The industry is also not adequately prepared to help advisors detect cognitive change in their clients." ~ Suzanne Schmitt

"Knowing the percentage of the current revenue in your book held by women is incredibly important, and engaging them on issues of caregiving is an absolute home run." ~ Suzanne Schmitt

"A lot of advisors don't start because they don't know where to start. Getting used to asking simply 'what has changed with your health since we last talked' is one of the best questions you can work into your repertoire." ~ Suzanne Schmitt

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