4A- Opportunity Belief

My Belief:

     I believe there is a tremendous opportunity of consulting firms for people who are getting ready to retire. They would be retirement life advisors.

Describing My Belief:

     There are 75.4 million baby boomers who are getting ready to retire. As people begin to prepare for retirement, there are a multitude of variables to account for. There are retirement plan options, insurance, medical plans, taxes, social security, and more. There are over 100 ways to draw social security alone. A majority of the people who are preparing for retirement really have no idea of anything about retirement at all. At the moment there are financial advisors who can help one invest their retirement funds, but there is nobody out there currently who specializes in retirement and retirement plans as an entirety. When people retire, they do not want to have to worry about paperwork and spending their life at a desk trying to situate their affairs. They want to be living their best life and enjoying their retirement. Providing a service of a "one-stop-shop" for all of your retirement needs could become a booming industry with steady clientele. 

I am very confident that this opportunity exists, and I would say that there 95% chance of success for a firm that would offer such a service.

The Prototypical Customer:

     The prototypical customer is going to be anyone who is getting ready to retire, so the customer base is endless. Every single day, people are finishing up their years of service at the work place and are preparing for retirement. The average age of these individuals would be between 55-65 years old. The average customer would be seeking guidance for all things dealing with retirement including medicare, social security, investment strategies, and more.

Iteration #1:

     I called my grandfather who works for Sarasota Sheriff's Department, because I knew he was getting ready to retire. I asked him a few questions regarding the service to determine if it would be something of interest to him. Here are a few of the questions that I asked him.

Me: "Grandpa, since you have been preparing for retirement, would you classify the task of preparing for retirement as an easy one?"

Grandpa: "Not at all, I had no idea that there were so many different things to account for when preparing to retire. It is not just drawing your social security out and living retired like I had previously thought."

Me: "What are some of the things that have been hard for you while getting ready for retirement?"

Grandpa: "Well like I said, social security is certainly something else. There are so many different ways to draw social security, from some now, to payments, to all kinds of different things. There you have the insurance problem, trying to switch to medicare. Did you know that medicare is not free? Many people believe that medicare is free, but trust me its not! I don't know there is just a lot of stuff to figure out that I was not prepared for."

Me: "Have you tried to seek guidance while preparing for retirement?"

Grandpa: "Yeah, I mean I have tried to talk to some of the guys at work, but they proved to be very unhelpful. I asked my stock manager a little bit, and he was way more helpful, but even he did not prove all that helpful. I guess it is just a learning process along the way."

Me: "Would you find a consulting firm for people who are getting ready to retire as helpful?"

Grandpa: "I think that would be a really good idea! Hell, it would be very beneficial. I feel about as lost as a fart in the wind at the moment with all of the preparations."

Me: "So you would be willing to pay for a consulting firm that specialized in retirement situations?

Grandpa: "If they knew what they were doing, and could help me get my affairs in line for retirement, I would certainly be interested."

Iteration #2:

     I spoke with local business owner in his upper fifties who asked for his name to not be disclosed. I knew with his age, he would be preparing for retirement soon and pinpointed him as a good candidate. For this interview, I will change his name to Bob.

Me: "Mr. Bob, I know that you are in your fifties are probably preparing for retirement soon. Have you began to look at your retirement plans at all? If so, would you classify the alignment of your retirement affairs as easy?

Bob: "Well Dakota, I am 56 years old now, and honestly I did a piss-poor job of preparing for my retirement. I should be looking to retire here in a few years, but I don't really have my affairs in line, and honestly I just don't have the time for it. Between running the business, dealing with my recent divorce, and taking care of my house and land, I just have not had the time to sit down and look at all of it."

Me: "Yes sir, I do see what you are saying. You are an attorney though as well, would you classify preparing for retirement as an easy task?"

Bob: "Not at all, I don't really deal with a whole lot of retirement stuff, that is a different side of law from what I practice, but from what I do know, retirement can actually be quite a pain." 

Me: "Well, let me ask you this. If there was a consulting firm that specialized in retirement situations, as in taking care of all our retirement needs for a small percentage off the top, would that interest you?"

Bob: "Definitely. Absolutely. Honestly, I would much rather prefer to pay someone to handle all of that for me, because I just don't have the time."

Iteration #3:

     The third person that I chose to speak with was a family friend, who is a certified public accountant(CPA). He is in his early fifties, so I was curious to see were his stance would be on such a firm. 

Me: "It is good to see you, I wanted to know what your opinion was as a CPA on what it is like to prepare for retirement?"

CPA: "Well Dakota, I haven't actually prepared all of my accounts and what not for retirement just yet, but I have helped some people with investment plans and such."

Me: "Besides investment plans, do you help in any other way with retirement situations?"

CPA: "Well I help with some taxes and all, but for the most part, I just focus on the investment side."

Me: "Well, have you ever helped advice with social security? And did you know that there are over 100 ways to draw social security?"

CPA: "No, I actually did not know that, and no I don't really help out much there."

Me: "Well what would be your opinion on a one-stop-shop consulting firm that specialized in retirement situations? They would handle everything from social security, insurance, investments and all.

CPA: "You know, I have never even thought of such a thing, but I bet that would be a great idea. I do have people come to me often regarding their retirement, but there is a lot more too it than what people think. I would actually be interested in using the service myself."

Reflect:

     I learned that my opportunity is a real one that actually exists! People really would have an interest in a retirement life advisor. To me, it looks like people would rather pay someone else to handle their retirement affairs for them. The thing that shocked me the most is when the CPA that I interviewed even made the comment that he would be interested in such a service as well. 

Summary:

     My exact opportunity belief is intact just as it was when I started. The people that I interviewed showed a real interest in such a service if it were available. I believe that my opportunity is very accurate, and it has been reinforced from talking with the people I chose to interview. I believe that just like the generic saying "the customer is always right" that it is important to keep the customers' interests in mind at all times when making business decisions. The business must stand true to what they believe in, but have the perfect amount of flexibility to satisfy customer needs.