“Despite good intentions, outdated assumptions about older clients may lead advisors to inadvertently send out the wrong message–and it is this poor signaling, not the eccentricities of aging, that proves to be a primary cause of communication setbacks. The good news is that by understanding the psychology of aging, advisors can fine-tune their communication skills to resonate with the unspoken agenda of older clients.”
This is a quote from a new article I just published in the December 2014 issue of BiFocal, a Journal of the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, entitled The Wrong Signals: Shutting Down the Planning Conversation Before it Starts (click here for full article). It represents my current thinking about the psychology of the last phase of life, a world embedded with two dominant agendas posing significant resistance to change. Together, these psychological currents create a deep inertia to disrupting the status quo.