Joyspan, identity grief, and the question the numbers can't answer
We talk a lot about the numbers.
How big is the pot? How long will it last? What rate of return do we need to make the plan work?
These are the right questions. But they are not the only questions. And for many of our clients, they are not even the most important ones.
In episode 109 Carl sat down with Sonya Lennon, founder of Futurythm, and the conversation went somewhere most financial planning discussions don’t.
Sonya has spent years working at the intersection of career development, personal leadership, and what she calls transition preparation. She was a big part of Standard Life's retirement education work in Ireland. During that time, she also interviewed around 45 to 50 people living purposeful, switched-on lives post-retirement, looking for common threads. What she found became the foundation of Futurythm: a structured, evidence-based framework built on 10 pillars, grounded in psychology, behavioural science, and neuroscience.
The framework introduced us to a phrase.
Identity grief.
You do not need it explained to understand it. You have probably seen it in clients. The person who was brilliant at their job, defined by their work, respected in their field, and then one day the diary clears and none of that exists anymore. Sonya referenced a video featuring a McKinsey researcher discussing men returning to the workplace post-retirement because the status and influence they had built over decades had no equivalent at home.
We underestimate this. Consistently.
Sonya also extended the language we use to think about longevity. Most of us have moved from lifespan to wealthspan: can the money outlast the person?
Futurythm adds two more.
Healthspan: how long can they afford to live healthily?
Joyspan: how long can they afford to live healthily, with purpose, meaning, and good connections?
That last one is the goal. And it is almost never what the cash flow model is optimising for.
Carl went through the Futurythm programme himself. His honest assessment: disruptive. Not in a comfortable way. One of the coaches pointed out that the things Carl said mattered most to him were the things he had no time for. Her conclusion was direct: if you do not have time for your priorities, they are not your priorities.
That landed.
There is something else in this episode worth hearing. Alan raised it towards the end, and it is a conversation we are having regularly with clients.
Spending.
After decades of building, saving, and compounding, many clients cannot bring themselves to draw down. The pot represents security. Reducing it, even when the plan clearly supports it, feels like loss. Alan described a long-standing client who simply likes to keep his portfolio at a certain level, even though he could comfortably spend more.
Giving clients permission to spend their own money is, genuinely, one of the most valuable things we do. And it is harder than it sounds.
The broader point Sonya made is one we think deserves more airtime in this profession. We tell clients to come to us early, before the exit, before the deal is signed, before the tax window closes. The same logic applies here. Do not start having retirement conversations at 58. Start having life development conversations at 43. Build the inner picture of what a good next chapter looks like before the current one ends.
As Sonya put it: you cannot unaware yourself of something. Once the question is alive, it does not go away.
The Futurythm digital tool is available at futurythmhub.com. TRAP listeners can contact Sonya through the website, mention TRAP, and access preferential terms.
If you work with clients who are approaching or navigating transition, this is worth investigating. Not as a replacement for the financial plan. As the thing that makes the financial plan mean something.
Episode 109 covers all of this and more, including the PE consolidator story that Andy believes could become a colossal mis-selling scandal, the Founders Relief that applies to approximately 400 to 600 business owners in the UK and the SJP net inflow numbers that are harder to explain away than their CEO suggested
Watch the full episode now. Links below.
Until next time.
Alan, Andy, Carl and Nick
P.S. Sonya's concept of joyspan is the kind of language that matters. It might be worth having it ready the next time a client asks what the plan is actually for.
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