Trying to engage your clients in a discussion about their retirement that may be 10 or 20 years away can be more challenging than making derivatives a light lunchtime chat. An Employee Benefits Research Institute study revealed that nearly 50% of clients have not even opened their statement envelopes for over a year. And an ING Retirement Research Institute survey echoed that lack of client engagement when it reported that 71% of Americans do not have a retirement plan.

While behavioral finance has shown the limited rationality of investors, the real problem lies in the fact that they are more rational in the short-term than in the long-term. People focus on what is in front of them today-the urgent, immediate and sometimes novel. And that, of course, is the problem when it comes to retirement planning.

Consumers, especially those 45 to 55 years old, are ruled by a litany of tradeoffs today: Work, family, a child's soccer practice, community activities, staying fit and all the little things in the business of life. Caught in the high velocity of things that must be done today they opt for what they have to do in the next 10 or 20 minutes rather than what may be necessary for goals two or even three decades in the future.

So is all lost? Is client engagement an elusive goal for the financial advisor seeking a deeper discussion with clients who do regularly check their portfolios, or even a quick check-in with the 50% who are shelving their statement envelopes? No, advisors can get on the client's agenda by engaging in a new conversation that is relevant to life today while crucial to a client's financial future. Planning approaches that appeal to a client's future goals are not incorrect, they are just incomplete.

Today's advisor must be able to speak knowledgeably about what living longer means to clients' everyday lives, how much it will cost and how to manage the life ahead, not just pay for it.

Here are three conversations your clients are dying to have with the advisor who can put those ideas into context for them.

HEALTH MEETS WEALTH
Health and wealth are the bookends of retirement. While good financial planning may provide economic security in older age, health and well-being will predict the quality of life as well as how expensive longevity will be. Consequently, asking 'how's your health?' is as much a financial question as 'how much are you saving for retirement?'

Many Americans over 45 years old have decided that their retirement plans include extending their work life to save more and spend less. That may be a good and, for some, necessary strategy. However, more than 100 million Americans have one chronic condition, hypertension, perhaps, as just one example. What's more, 60 million people have two or more diseases; and about 20 million have three or more chronic conditions. Chronic disease, particularly multiple conditions, are likely to cut work plans short and result in early retirement or even disability, greatly affecting plans and portfolios.

Numerous studies cite the "average cost" of health care for a couple over 65 years old. That number has been approximately $230,000 to $250,000 for several years. Different diseases and multiple conditions can greatly add to those 'average' costs. (These are costs that the previous generation largely did not experience, perhaps because of shorter lives).

A client who is managing diabetes can anticipate several thousand dollars in additional annual expenses after insurance. Likewise, the projected impact of obesity on conditions such as heart disease, knee and related joint disorders as well as the estimated explosion of Alzheimer's disease suggests that there will be considerable health-related costs for the next generation of old.

New medications and related health services emerging to meet the demands of multiple chronic diseases in old age are likely to require payment above what insurers are willing to pay -some may remain 100% discretionary out-of-pocket expenses as nearly all alternative therapies are today.

Health is a financial issue. Most clients already understand this. Client engagement requires a discreet and caring conversation about the real state of a client's or couple's health to be responsive to their individual needs and not just an average cost projection. Empathetic expertise beyond finance is the new and necessary ingredient for effective longevity planning.

COSTS OF CARING
Few people think about helping a parent or a loved one as 'care giving'. They simply see it as part of being a good son, daughter, partner, spouse or family member.

However, the provision of informal assistance to an elderly loved one can range in intensity from simply calling to say hello to an all-encompassing effort like daily feeding and dressing. According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index, a daily nationwide survey of 1,000 Americans, nearly one in four families provide some form of care giving. On average, that adds up to about 21 hours per week. The face of care giving is most often a spouse followed closely by the oldest adult daughter or daughter-in-law.