This course will add another dimension to your skill set, teaching you how to help your clients explore their memories & motivational needs to formulate a fulfilling, purposeful retirement.

The presenting issues for your clients in retirement planning primarily revolve around money: how much will they need, how should they invest it, how can they withdraw each month without compromising their future sustainability. Of course these are very important considerations. But Consumer Reports selected us as one of the "15 best books on retirement" because we connect the concerns about money to a deeper, more significant subject: how will I make my retirement years have purpose? Will I retain a community? Will my days have structure that appeals to me? How can I create a purposeful new life I will truly enjoy. And then, what will that life cost, can I afford it, and if not, how do I adjust my priorities to make it work?
We show you how to help your clients explore their underlying motivational needs and mine their past experiences to better understand themselves and use that information to formulate their retirement lifestyle.
And we find that in connecting with your potential clients through the language that they present-- "can we afford our future existence"?-- if you also probe and respond to the unspoken question-- how can our retirement years be fulfilling-- you will be more effective in helping them create a purposeful and happy retirement."
The course leaders are Alan Bernstein, a renowned psychotherapist based in New York specializing in life transitions, and John Trauth, a strategic and financial planner based in San Francisco. Students participate in a video seminar where they do exercises and mine their past experiences to generate critical information that they can use to create their own unique strategic plan for retirement,
Don't take this course unless you are wiling to put in the time to fully participate in the exercises (workbook provided). But if you do, it will help you be more effective in counseling your clients through this major life transition. And you just might find it helpful for planning your own retirement!
When the course participants in the video are doing the exercises, you will do them at the same time. For legal and privacy purposes, the voices of the participants have been muted, but you will get the essence of their comments from the presenters' responses.
Also in the video, there are frequent references to the book, "Your Retirement, Your Way." The course together with the workbook is sufficient for taking the course, However, If you are interested in additional details concerning personality exercises, personal strategic planning, and financial preparation for retirement, you can order the book through Amazon." There are other books with similar titles, so make sure it's "Your Retirement, Your Way."
*Based on the best-selling book of the same name, formerly Amazon's #1 book on retirement and rated one of the 15 best books on this subject by Consumer Reports.

Management Consultant, Financial and Strategic Planning
John Trauth is a management consultant in San Francisco specializing in financial and strategic planning. After receiving his MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth, he began his career in Boston working in the management services division of the firm now called Deloitte. He moved to San Francisco to join a large general management consulting firm and continued consulting in the private, public and non-profit sectors. In the course of his career, he set up 29 companies for various clients, developing their business and strategic plans and putting them on course for success. After an intense career, he decided to retire early, and he and his wife Astrid moved to France for a year. When he returned, he was uncertain what to do next. Working with psychotherapist Alan Bernstein, he learned more about himself, his interests, working style and motivational needs. Being a strategic planner, he was able to take this information and develop his own personal strategic plan, keeping those things in his personal and work life that gave him satisfaction and eliminating those that caused him stress. It worked out very well, and Alan suggested that he and John write a book about it. That was the origin of “Your Retirement, Your Way.”

Psychotherapist and Career Development Specialist
Alan Bernstein is a psychotherapist and career development specialist practicing in New York City. Following his graduate education, he received faculty appointments at New York Medical College and New York University Graduate School. He has explored through writing his interest in the range of human experience: Your Retirement, Your Way,(2006) Princeton Review's Guide to Your Career (6 editions) and Mastering the Art of Quitting ( Da Capo, 2014) co-authored with Peg Streep. While continuing his private psychotherapy practice, Alan is also a consultant in organizational development specializing in international companies. He uses the Birkman Method for understanding individual motivation while helping teams define and articulate their creative interactions. He was also the editor and creative talent for The Birkman Reader, a compendium of best practices. The Reader is marketed through Birkman International. Alan is a dedicated member of the New York City community and believes that the process of transition, though daunting, can be cultivated and become an adventure in itself. See more at www.loveworkbalance.com.