Your kids may never retire — what does that mean for financial advisors?

Most retirement conversations today centre on what’s next for Boomers and Gen X. How will we support them as they exit the workforce? How should we reshape products, portfolios and pension plans for them?

We also need to ask a more forward-looking question: What will retirement look like for today’s kids? And are we prepared to meet their needs?

A white paper published by Prudential Financial in January, Generation Beta: Redefining Life, Longevity, and Retirement, offers a glimpse into that future. It explores how children born between 2025 and 2039 — Gen Beta — may live, work and retire in radically different ways. It also reveals the cracks forming in today’s retirement systems.

This is not a future issue; it represents an existing strategic gap.

One of the report’s most striking insights is that 66% of respondents believe retirement will be fluid, meaning people will move in and out of it rather than treating it as a one-time event.

The traditional model — learn, save for 40 years, retire at 65 and draw from accumulated assets — was designed for a world of shorter lifespans and linear careers. It no longer aligns with today’s economic realities, workforce patterns or personal aspirations.

According to the report, 48% of parents believe their children may never fully retire. The perceived retirement target is US$1.88 million, but many doubt they will reach it. Four in five parents say saving for retirement should begin at birth.

These numbers reveal a growing awareness that our current systems aren’t designed for longer lives. They also highlight an urgent need for advisors to guide clients with a new approach to retirement planning.

Precautionary planning

An important behavioural shift is taking shape, especially among younger families. Parents are thinking differently about financial planning, for themselves and their children.

The most common financial regret among adults, according to the white paper, is not saving enough for retirement.

This signals the rise of what I call precautionary planning: a proactive, long-term approach to financial resilience shaped by economic uncertainty and new realities.

Add to that the declining trust in institutions, including financial services providers. People are turning to their peers, or taking planning into their own hands. They’re “doing their own research,” because the advice and direction delivered via conventional sources doesn’t reflect their real-world experience.

Advisors have an opportunity to help clients think more broadly about what they can plan for in the future — beyond just education and weddings. Those who do it well will build multigenerational relationships rooted in trust, longevity and foresight. They will provide guidance on more than just money.

The white paper describes a design exercise in which participants were asked to write postcards to their future grandchildren. The responses weren’t about wealth, assets or inheritance. They centred on values: curiosity, kindness and courage.

That makes sense. Living to 90 means that your kids are established financially when you pass. So, there’s less need to leave them an inheritance. Combine that with the expense of living that long, and you get a dramatically different kind of retirement income calculation.

For those with the means, retirement is less a financial milestone than it is a time for personal growth, reinvention and emotional legacy. More than half of respondents (55%) defined retirement as a time to spend what they’ve earned, not necessarily preserve wealth for heirs.

More than a financial plan

All of this challenges traditional models of accumulation and preservation. Today’s clients want more than a financial plan — they want to design a meaningful phase of life. Yet, most advisory models, products and communications haven’t caught up.

While 81% believe financial institutions have the power to reshape the retirement system, 57% say that current products are designed for a world that no longer exists.

Consumers are granting us both the permission and responsibility to lead. Successful firms will contribute to a more modern, flexible, purpose-driven retirement model.

Clients want solutions that are adaptable across life transitions (career breaks, caregiving, sabbaticals), personalized and holistic — integrating income, purpose, health and legacy.

This isn’t about abandoning traditional planning principles. It’s about expanding the playbook to reflect longer lives, nonlinear careers and more fluid transitions.

Three suggestions

Advisors who want to lead in this space can start by:

1. Engaging younger families on long-term financial resilience, not just RRSP and RESP contributions.
2. Exploring tools that accommodate multiphase careers and changing priorities.
3. Integrating conversations about well-being, values and life goals — not just income projections.

The future of retirement is already forming in the minds of today’s young parents. Advisors who act now will help shape what comes next. Those who don’t may find themselves planning for a world that no longer exists.