Not long after turning 35, your clients start to earn significantly more than when they started their careers. Barring accidents, those earnings levels can be expected to climb until sometime in their mid- to late 50s, after which incomes start to ease.

That means there’s a 20-year window during which you can help clients maximize their contributions to the portfolios that will see them through their post-working lives.

You need to ensure clients understand the urgency and set meaningful savings goals for this critical period.

Start the conversation with this Client Email that advises clients on some of the spending pitfalls they can slip into during middle age. If you prefer to contact them by regular mail, the same verbiage can be used for a formal Client Letter.

And, before clients come in to talk, send along these Articles to provide food for thought and to get them familiar with the concepts you’ll be discussing:

Prepare for the peak

Peak planning guidelines

Top 5 peak earnings pitfalls

The peak portfolio

You can also download some handy text to customize a Presentation prior to your meeting. It outlines what clients need to keep an eye on, and how planning assumptions have to change, as their earnings peak. There’s also a Checklist to help you run down the key pitfalls this client demographic must avoid.

To further help with those meetings, we’ve provided a Planner that prioritizes what peak earners should focus on – including maximizing RRSP contributions and rethinking portfolio allocations.

And we’ve included a Worksheet showing earnings statistics for Canadians. You can hand it out during meetings and it has plenty of room for clients to take notes.

Plus, we offer lots more Articles to help you give clients food for thought:

Risk aversion is a big risk

Pensions for the long lived

Consider a concentrated portfolio

Why social issues matter to investors

Why portfolio diversity matters

We hope these offerings help you spark meaningful and productive conversations with your clients.