What Advisors Can Learn From Bonnie Treichel’s Retirement Sketchbook Approach

At Future Proof Citywide in Miami, my conversation with Bonnie Treichel, Chief Solutions Officer of Endeavor Retirement, kept circling a single theme: retirement is too individual to be reduced to a template. It’s a simple idea on the surface, but a significant departure from how advisors and investors have long framed retirement—as a fixed number, a target date, or a rigid formula. Treichel takes a more grounded view. In her telling, retirement is not a finish line to calculate in advance, but an evolving plan people should actively build, adjust, and personalize throughout their lives.

That perspective is especially relevant now because retirement planning is no longer just about accumulation. Investors are living longer, working differently, and expecting more flexibility than previous generations. Advisors are also navigating a more complex environment, where plan design, participant behavior, tax strategy, and regulatory changes all influence the outcome. In that context, Treichel’s book, co-authored with Jamie Hopkins, Your Retirement Sketchbook, offers a practical but fresh way to think about retirement planning: not as a finished drawing, but as a living process.

What makes their approach stand out is that it does not reject the traditional framework. It respects the math, the discipline, and the importance of starting early. But it insists that those tools are not enough on their own. As Treichel said, “Part of the reason I like this sketchbook concept is that we're not dismissing concepts like what you find in spreadsheets or the 4% rule or any of those things.” That is an important distinction for advisors, because many clients still need those fundamentals. The real value of the sketchbook idea is that it expands the conversation beyond them.

Retirement as a living design

Treichel described retirement as something that should evolve with the person. She said, “Things change, right? So as things change, you have to draw a little here or erase a little there, bold a little bit here.” That metaphor captures a basic truth: life rarely follows the script.

Many of the biggest retirement decisions are often made under uncertainty. When should I retire? How do I phase out of work? What happens if my health changes? What if the market changes? What if my spouse wants something different than I do? The sketchbook metaphor gives people permission to adjust without feeling like they have failed a plan. That alone can reduce anxiety and make planning conversations more productive.

Treichel also emphasized that retirement does not mean the same thing to everyone. Some people picture beach chairs and total leisure. Others want part-time work, volunteer roles, small businesses, or entirely new careers. “That’s not everyone's vision of retirement, right? So to me, this empowers someone, at any age, the 30-year-old, the 50-year-old, the 70-year-old who's already in retirement, to take control and live the retirement they want and sketch that out. Be their own artist,” she said. It is a useful reminder for advisors working across generations, because the goal is not to fit clients into one model of retirement, but to help them shape one that fits.

The emotional side matters

Retirement planning is often framed in terms of savings rates, withdrawal strategies, Social Security timing, tax efficiency, and plan design. Those pieces matter. But Treichel pushed the discussion toward something that often gets less attention: how people feel about retirement, not just what they can afford.

“I think there's a few things that get overlooked, but one of them is just the emotional aspect,” she said. That will sound familiar to any advisor who has seen a client delay retirement despite being financially ready. In many cases, the obstacle is not a spreadsheet problem. It is an identity problem. People may not know what comes next, or they may worry about losing structure, purpose, or community.

Treichel explained that this emotional dimension is woven through the entire book. The chapters begin with a person’s relationship with money and then build toward broader questions about values, legacy, and community. That progression works because retirement planning is rarely a series of isolated decisions. It is a connected process, and clients can still feel uncertain if only one piece of the picture gets addressed.

Simplicity helps advisors help people

Treichel also made a strong case for simplifying the way advisors communicate. That advice is especially relevant for financial professionals who work with participants, plan sponsors, or retail investors who are easily overwhelmed by industry language. In her view, the best educational tools are the ones people can actually use.

“One of the key things that I want advisors to take away is get away from the jargon, get away from the acronyms, get away from the technical, keep it really simple,” she said. It is a valuable reminder in a profession that often mistakes complexity for credibility. Simplicity does not mean oversimplifying. It means making the next step clear.

She also described the book as a workbook rather than a cover-to-cover read. That reflects how people actually absorb financial information. They do not need every concept at once. They need the right concept at the right moment. The book can become a conversation starter, a teaching tool, or a client handout depending on the setting. It is flexible enough to support a one-on-one meeting, a retirement workshop, or a participant education session.

Governance needs consistency

Treichel’s point on governance was simple: regulatory change is inevitable, but prudent process should be built to last. Advisors and plan sponsors are constantly reacting to shifts in guidance, policy, and administration. Her argument was that governance has to be durable enough to hold through those swings.

When asked about shifting DOL and IRS developments, she said that the answer is to stay grounded in prudent process and avoid the extremes. In other words, governance should be durable even when the environment is not. That is not just a compliance message; it is a planning philosophy. A strong investment policy statement, a disciplined review process, and an eye on demographics can keep a plan aligned even when the outside world changes.

Treichel’s comments on annual check-ins were equally practical. She highlighted two questions advisors should always revisit: whether there have been regulatory changes and whether participant demographics have shifted. That second point is often underestimated. A merger, a younger workforce, or a new employee mix can change the entire shape of a retirement plan. That kind of review helps keep the plan relevant over time.

Retirement is not one size fits all

Retirement no longer fits a single script. For some people, it means a clean break from work. For others, it looks more like a transition: phased retirement, part-time work, or a move into something entirely new. That may sound obvious, but it reflects a real shift in how people think about the later stages of work.

“I have two people… they have, quote, ‘retired.’ They don't work full time. But those are two of my best workers,” she said. Her example shows why retirement makes more sense as a spectrum than a cliff. Some people want to stop working cold turkey. Others want to ease out gradually. Still others want to reinvent themselves entirely. Viewing retirement that way leads to better planning, because the conversation becomes less about a single endpoint and more about the life someone wants to build.

That broader view applies to small business owners too. There is no single savings solution for them, and the right fit depends on their business, tax situation, and long-term goals. The same idea holds for investors who may be underprepared. The point is not that everyone should make the same choice. It is that everyone should understand the choices available to them.

Why this matters now

Retirement planning is not just about strategy. It is also about helping people imagine a future that fits their values, goals, and circumstances. That is what makes the sketchbook idea compelling. It preserves the structure people need while making more room for change, emotion, and different visions of retirement.

That perspective can improve client meetings, strengthen retirement education, and make the conversation feel less like a lecture and more like a collaboration. More than anything, it reframes retirement as something people shape over time, not just something they eventually arrive at.

Learn more about Bonnie Treichel and Endeavor Retirement at Endeavor Retirement and explore Your Retirement Sketchbook at yourretirementsketchbook.com.