All prospects want this question answered. So answer it.
Imagine it: Mr and Mrs Prospect are sitting opposite from you, in your office (or over the Interweb). They are primed to not like you: as a financial adviser, in their eyes, you rank somewhere between an estate agent and a car salesperson.
The couple is successful, self-made and always pressed for time. Already they are resenting the travel time/time wasted in logging into Zoom and the dead next thirty or so minutes looming in their lives, depending on how long your initial discovery meetings last.
The prospects are almost forced to see you because they are about to embark on a series of massive decisions: they are thinking about walking away from the "work" that has both consumed and fulfilled them for the last 40 odd years.
The petrified saps are pivoting to what will be (unbeknown to them but let's introduce the terror bit-by-bit) a typical three-to-four decade retirement, where the cost of their Lifestyle will likely more than triple.
Mr and Mrs Prospect think they are there to discuss their pension arrangements, the pro and cons of buying an annuity v drawdown etc. If the conversation could also cover a detailed review of the performance of their pension "pots" AND a thorough look through your recommended alternative investment portfolio's recent figures, that will be job done.
Not so quick, people.
What these poor souls really want to know - need to know - is the answer to a question bubbling beneath the service, if not consciously then buried away in the subconscious.
"Are we going to be OK?"
That is the question (sorry, Shakespeare).
Answering The One Key Question, all the time, for all your clients is your calling.