A longer life needs more than a financial plan.

 

Dov Sugarman, co-founder of Ingagers, joined me on the Get Ready Before Life Happens podcast to talk about moving from traditional retirement planning to holistic longevity planning.

 

What stood out: 

• Retirement planning is  one part of longevity planning.
• Aging well includes mind, body, lifestyle, legal, financial, and social needs.
• Wellbeing, health, relationships, and purpose deserve intentional investment.
• Advisors can become partners in helping clients navigate life transitions.
• AI can support advisors while keeping the human relationship at the center.

 

Bottom Line: Retirement is often treated as a finish line. Longevity planning asks a better question: How do you want to design the years ahead? 

 

 🎥 Watch this episode below: 

 

🎧 Listen to the podcast below or on your favorite podcast app. 

 

 

Connect with Dov Sugarman: 

 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dovsugarman/
• Ingagers Website: https://ingagers.com

 

Resources mentioned: 

 

• Redefining Success for Women in Finance: The Power of Your Network with Cameo Roberson & Kari Ellis on the Get Ready Before Life Happens Podcast (here) 

 

Bio: 

 

Dov Sugarman is co-founder and CEO of Ingagers, the AI-powered longevity engagement platform for holistic wealth management. Ingagers helps financial advisors serving clients aged 50+ deliver the kind of proactive, holistic guidance that strengthens client relationships and positions advisors as the trusted "first call" before and during life's big transitions. He brings over 20 years of experience at the intersection of aging, wellness, and technology, with an academic background in health policy and management and holistic nutritional counseling, and a career spent managing senior living organizations, building agetech ventures, and advising longevity-focused companies.

 

👉 Start Your Financial Readiness Plan: A free, practical plan that helps you create your in-case-of-emergency Financial First Aid Kit, organize what matters, and prepare before life happens. Start Your Free Financial Readiness Plan  https://www.tonysteuer.com

 

👉 Support Get Ready. Become a Get Ready Insider and help keep the Financial Readiness Plan free, support the podcast, trusted resources, and consumer-first financial education. You’ll receive access to the Get Ready Library. Support Get Ready here. www.tonysteuer.com/support

 

 

Transcript

 

 

Tony Steuer: Financial readiness grows when advisors are able to support clients through life's transitions.

Welcome to Get Ready: Before Life Happens. I'm your host, Tony Steuer.

Today, I'm joined by Dov Sugarman, co-founder and CEO of Ingagers.

Dov, welcome to Get Ready: Before Life Happens.

Dov Sugarman: Thanks, Tony. It's great to be here. I'm really excited about our conversation.

Tony: I'm excited to share what you're building with the audience.

What led you to focus on life transitions beyond the financial plan?

Dov: What struck me is that retirement planning is almost entirely about the money.

The number, the portfolio, the strategy.

And all of that is essential. I understand why it's such an important part of financial advice.

But it's really only one piece.

When you talk to people heading into this stage of life, particularly people in their 50s and older, they're often just as worried about other things.

Their health.

Staying mentally sharp.

Finding purpose when work ends.

Caring for aging parents.

Where they're going to live.

Keeping the people they love close.

The list goes on.

Here's the gap that really got to me.

For the financial side, there's an entire trusted profession.

For the rest of aging well, there isn't really one place people can turn.

Then it clicked.

The financial advisor already has a trusted relationship with the client.

They're already in the room.

They're already thinking in decades and about different stages of life.

So rather than build another standalone wellness app that people would download and forget, we decided to connect longevity planning with the financial advisor relationship.

That's the idea behind Ingagers.

Meet people where the trust already exists and give them somewhere to turn for the whole experience of aging, rather than just their finances.

Tony: I think this is a huge issue.

When I look at financial literacy and financial planning platforms, a lot of them seem to stop at retirement.

Yet people can spend 30 or even 40 years in retirement.

We spend so much time focused on accumulating money that we don't always spend enough time thinking about the transition to spending it.

I've had many guests talk about identity in retirement and finding purpose.

And your point about wellness platforms is interesting.

I've advised a couple of fintech companies in that area, and one of the challenges is getting people to continue using the platform.

They sign up and get started, but they don't necessarily come back.

To me, that suggests people aren't finding enough ongoing value.

How are you addressing that with Ingagers?

Dov: One of the things that initially caught our attention was how frequently financial advisory firms use the word holistic.

You see it on websites everywhere.

My background is in holistic wellness.

So when we looked more closely at what these firms meant by holistic, we often found they were talking about a holistic financial picture.

That's valuable.

But there's much more to a person's life.

We're building an AI longevity platform for financial advisors.

We call it the longevity intelligence layer for wealth management.

There are two connected sides.

The advisor's clients interact directly with an AI longevity coach called Aggie.

Aggie is available 24/7 and focuses on four broad domains of longevity.

Those are:

1. Mind and body.

2. Purpose and passion.

3. Social and lifestyle.

4. Financial and legal.

Because Aggie is a conversational AI tool rather than a form, clients can also explore other areas of their lives.

On the advisor's side, the platform provides an intelligence layer.

It's a living picture of each client's goals, milestones, and life transitions.

That helps the advisor show up as a partner in the client's whole life.

They can be one of the first people the client calls when something changes.

And they can do that without having to hire an entire team of specialists.

We're not replacing the advisor.

We're amplifying what the advisor can do.

They don't need to become a gerontology expert or a life coach.

We expand their capacity without requiring additional staff.

Tony: That's fascinating.

Before we get further into AI, could you explain the four domains of longevity?

Dov: Absolutely.

I should start by saying that I often avoid using the word retirement.

That's becoming a rapidly changing concept.

People retire.

They unretire.

They partially retire.

They move into new careers.

Retirement isn't necessarily the gateway to the next stage of life anymore.

So we look more broadly.

The first domain is mind and body.

That's about cognitive and physical health.

Are you sleeping well?

Are you exercising?

Are you taking care of preventive healthcare?

Are you keeping your mind active?

These are the things we've heard about for years from doctors, parents, and wellness experts.

The second domain is purpose and passion.

What gives your life meaning?

What are you excited about?

How do you continue contributing?

The third is social and lifestyle.

We know that social connections are important to quality of life and healthy aging.

People need meaningful relationships and opportunities to stay engaged.

We also look at lifestyle choices and how people want to spend their time.

The fourth domain is financial and legal.

We're not trying to replace the financial advisor's expertise.

Instead, we look at how clients feel about their financial situation and whether there may be gaps that deserve attention.

On the legal side, that might mean identifying a need for a will, estate plan, or another service.

The advisor can then help connect the client with appropriate resources.

The idea is to bring together the different kinds of support people may need as they move through this stage of life.

We're talking about potentially 30 or 40 years.

Healthcare advances have made longer lives possible for many people, but living those years well requires attention and effort.

We want people to take proactive steps so they have a better chance of living the life they envision.

Tony: I want to make sure I understand the four domains.

You mentioned the cognitive side and the financial and legal side. Are those separate domains?

Dov: We've combined related areas into four domains because we wanted the presentation to be easy to understand.

Mind and body are one.

Purpose and passion are the second.

Social and lifestyle are the third.

And financial and legal are the fourth.

We didn't want to overwhelm people with too many individual scores.

The platform generates an aggregated longevity readiness score based on those four domains.

That gives someone a picture of where they stand when they begin using the service.

We use a dashboard with a simple red, yellow, and green presentation.

For example, the platform might show that someone is doing well financially but is struggling with purpose and passion.

Aggie can then help them explore that.

What would they like to change?

What kind of plan would be realistic?

What small steps could they take?

The goal is to help people identify meaningful improvements and support them in making progress.

Tony: That's great.

Purpose, passion, social connections, and cognitive health have come up in many conversations on this podcast.

But they're often discussed as secondary considerations.

There aren't necessarily many practical tools to help someone recognize where they need to focus.

Your platform gives people a way to identify those areas and develop a plan.

Who can use Ingagers?

Is it just for financial advisors, or can consumers access it directly?

Dov: Right now, we're focused on working with financial advisors.

It's a business-to-business model.

We don't want to replace financial advisors, lawyers, or healthcare providers.

Our goal is to work alongside those professionals.

We can envision a consumer version in the future, but our current approach is through financial advisory firms.

A firm would bring the platform into its existing technology systems and make it available to clients.

We're particularly focused on people in their 50s and 60s.

That's often when people begin noticing changes in their lives.

Maybe their health is changing.

Maybe they're thinking differently about work.

Their family situation may be changing.

Or they're reconsidering their place in the community.

It's an opportunity to enter the next stage of life with greater awareness and intention.

Think about some of the earlier transitions in life.

You finish high school and go to college because that's what you're expected to do.

You start a career.

You enter a relationship.

You become a parent.

Sometimes we move through those stages almost automatically because that's where life takes us.

But as we enter this next stage, we have an opportunity to be more intentional.

We can think about how we want to live rather than simply allowing circumstances to determine the direction.

Tony: That's a valuable point.

My wife was recently filling out a survey, and the age categories went up in roughly 10-year increments.

Then suddenly there was a category for everyone over 60.

That's an enormous range.

Someone who's 62 may have a very different life from someone who's 85 or 95.

And with more people living longer, we really need to think differently about those later decades.

Let's turn to AI.

We were talking before the show about how AI can amplify the role of a financial advisor rather than replace the advisor.

How does Aggie accomplish that?

Dov: There's a technology phrase you hear often: human in the loop.

The idea is that human judgment and involvement remain part of the process.

For us, that's central to the platform.

We say Aggie amplifies the advisor rather than replacing them.

The trusted human relationship is the whole point.

People are already using AI for increasingly personal aspects of their lives, including financial planning and investment decisions.

But we're focused on using technology to protect and strengthen the human relationship.

AI can do certain things at scale that are difficult for people to do.

First, it's always available.

An advisor may tell clients, "I'm always here for you."

But that doesn't literally mean 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

AI can be available whenever a client wants to engage.

Aggie can help clients explore their goals and concerns around aging.

The advisor doesn't necessarily have expertise in all those areas.

Aggie is designed to provide that support.

Then the platform synthesizes what it learns into a high-level understanding for the advisor.

What goals are emerging?

What milestones are approaching?

What important changes may be happening in the client's life?

That gives the advisor information they can use without overwhelming them.

They can reach out at a meaningful moment and have a more relevant conversation.

It's an efficient use of the client's time and the advisor's time.

I also want to emphasize privacy.

We don't share the client's private conversations with the advisor.

The advisor receives the broader insights rather than the complete chat.

Our approach is also designed to keep that conversational information protected from the underlying large language model providers we may use.

The goal is to maintain privacy while providing useful insights.

AI can make this kind of holistic, high-touch service possible across an advisor's entire client base, rather than reserving it for only a few clients.

Tony: That's something I think people sometimes overlook about AI.

It can make professionals more efficient.

I've had guests discuss how they're using AI for parts of portfolio management and analysis.

Of course, the advisor still needs to review the results.

But if technology can take care of some of those tasks, the advisor has more time to focus on the relationship.

And throughout my career, the most successful advisors I've seen are often the ones who build strong personal relationships with clients.

Dov: Exactly.

The technical side of financial management is increasingly being commoditized.

That means the value of the human relationship becomes even more important.

We're saying advisors should lean into that.

If technology frees up time or gives advisors access to information and capabilities they didn't previously have, they can use those resources to strengthen client relationships.

They can be there when clients need them.

They can connect clients with appropriate services.

And when relevant, they can identify additional ways their firm can help.

That can deepen loyalty and strengthen the long-term advisory relationship.

Tony: Dov, I have to ask the question I'm sure a lot of financial planners listening are wondering about.

Is AI going to replace financial planners?

Or perhaps the better question is, which parts of financial planning might AI replace?

Dov: I think advisors who provide only technical financial management may be at risk of disruption.

Particularly if their service is largely reactive.

If they're not finding the time or capacity to be proactive with clients, technology may be able to offer something similar.

But when advisors lean into their human skills, they're providing something different.

They're building relationships.

They're understanding what's happening throughout the client's life.

They're helping people navigate changes.

That broader understanding of the client is what makes the advisor relevant.

And as the technical financial services become more automated, it may become harder for some firms to justify their fees based solely on investment management.

The relationship is going to be a major differentiator.

Tony: I think that's consistent with what I've been hearing from other guests and financial planning thought leaders.

If you're providing only portfolio management, AI may be able to handle more of that work.

But clients may still want a human being to explain what's happening.

And when we're talking about something like caregiving, that's where the human relationship becomes particularly valuable.

Advisors who help clients navigate those decisions are bringing something different to the table.

Do you agree?

Dov: Absolutely.

Although I think we should acknowledge that it's hard to predict the future of AI.

Most futurists get things wrong at some point.

We don't know exactly where the technology is going.

There are people who talk about eventually having some kind of human-AI hybrid.

So I wouldn't claim to know what the future looks like.

But with today's technology, I think AI can be very useful and practical.

Consider a major life event.

Maybe your aging mother falls and breaks her hip.

You live in California, and she lives in New York.

Suddenly, you're trying to understand what that means for her care.

There's a lot more involved than simply finding a checklist or the nearest rehabilitation facility.

There's emotion.

There's confusion.

There's uncertainty.

And it's all happening in the middle of a crisis.

Those are situations where human relationships matter.

You need people you trust.

People who know you.

People who have supported you through other experiences.

I don't think it will be easy for AI to replace that.

Although, again, I could be wrong.

Tony: We really don't know exactly how this will evolve.

But I think authenticity and human experience will continue to be important.

That applies to financial advice and even to content creation.

AI can easily generate an article explaining different types of life insurance.

But an experienced advisor brings personal stories and real-life examples from working with clients.

That experience adds something valuable.

Dov, before we wrap up, what are three things advisors should understand about supporting clients beyond the numbers?

Dov: First, well-being matters as much as wealth.

We're talking about longevity and people entering the next stage of life.

And I loved your comment about the 60-plus age category.

That has driven me crazy throughout my career.

I've spent much of my professional life working in aging, wellness, and related services.

Grouping people in their 50s with people in their 80s or 90s is problematic.

They're often living through very different experiences.

But regardless of age, well-being is incredibly important.

Research has found strong relationships between health, social connections, and thriving in later life.

One finding I've seen suggests that people in good health with strong social connections are nearly five times more likely to be thriving.

Think about that.

Health and social connections are two major nonfinancial factors.

Financial advisors can't simply optimize the portfolio and ignore the client's life.

Second, engagement needs to be proactive and timely.

When advisors build meaningful relationships, clients are more likely to stay with them.

That relationship may also extend to the next generation.

But the most valuable engagement often happens at exactly the right moment.

How do you reach out when someone needs help, perhaps before they even recognize the need themselves?

That's difficult.

It's one of the things we're trying to address with Ingagers.

Maybe a parent suddenly needs care.

Maybe the client has a health scare.

Maybe they're relocating.

If the advisor recognizes that transition and reaches out at the right time, it makes a difference.

That kind of timely engagement is valuable for clients and for the advisory business.

Third, advisors don't have to be experts in everything.

A financial advisor shouldn't be expected to know every aspect of healthcare, caregiving, relationships, or aging.

But the advisor can become one of the first people a client calls.

They can help coordinate resources.

They can recognize when someone needs a geriatric care manager, a legal professional, or another specialist.

And they can connect clients with the right people.

Advisors often already have valuable professional networks built over many years.

So the role is to recognize the need and coordinate support.

That allows advisors to stay focused on financial advice while helping clients navigate a much broader set of life challenges.

Tony: That takes me back to the days when people said your most valuable business asset was your Rolodex.

For younger listeners, a Rolodex was where we kept business cards and contact information!

Throughout my career, my network has been one of the greatest strengths of my business.

Knowing people, understanding what they do, and maintaining those relationships has been incredibly valuable.

I've done an episode specifically about maintaining your professional network, and I'll include a link in the show notes.

Being able to connect someone with the right person or resource during a difficult time can make a tremendous difference.

Dov: Absolutely.

And that's another area where AI can help.

The technology can support the advisor in researching resources.

Let's say an advisor has a client named Betty who's dealing with a relocation.

Or her daughter has moved away.

Or perhaps her daughter is moving back home with three grandchildren.

Our platform can help provide the advisor with relevant information and resources.

They don't have to rely entirely on their existing network or spend hours researching.

AI can help expand their ability to support clients.

Tony: That's a valuable service.

Dov, let's wrap up with the Get Ready Hot Take Trio.

These are three quick questions I ask all my guests.

What's one myth about preparing for life transitions that you'd like to break?

Dov: I'd like to challenge the idea that aging is primarily a period of decline.

There's a degree of ageism in our society, including in how we view our own aging.

We sometimes assume that everything ahead is going to be difficult.

That we're entering a period of challenges and losses.

But that doesn't have to be the whole story.

There's fascinating research on how our attitudes toward aging affect our lives.

Studies have found that people with more positive views of their own aging lived, on average, seven and a half years longer than those with more negative views.

That's remarkable.

So I'd encourage everyone to think about their own attitude toward aging.

If you see aging primarily as something negative, consider changing that perspective.

These can be some of the best years of your life.

And approaching them positively may help you live them more fully.

Tony: That's something I've heard from other experts on aging as well.

The way we think about aging can have a meaningful impact on how we experience it.

Let's get out the time machine for a minute.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self about preparing for major life transitions?

Dov: It may sound simple, but I'd say:

Invest in the things that matter.

Invest in your health.

Invest in your relationships.

Invest in your sense of purpose.

Invest in your community.

Do those things as deliberately as you invest in a financial portfolio.

Because those investments compound too.

And unlike money, you can't necessarily buy them back later if you neglected them.

So all those things we talk about, including work-life balance and taking care of ourselves, are worth prioritizing as early as possible.

Tony: That's a great way to look at it.

If you take care of your health, you're more likely to be able to enjoy the opportunities you've worked so hard to create.

For example, many people look forward to traveling once they're financially independent.

But if their health prevents them from traveling, that changes what retirement looks like.

It's another example of how these parts of our lives are connected.

Dov, here's the last question.

What's your number-one tip to change the way we think about money and life transitions?

Dov: I'd encourage people to start thinking about longevity planning instead of only retirement planning.

Retirement planning can sound like you're funding a particular moment in time.

You're accumulating enough money so that when you reach that point, you can travel and do the things you've been looking forward to.

Longevity planning is broader.

You're thinking about potentially 30 years of life that you get to design.

What do you want those years to look like?

What do you want to do?

Who do you want to spend time with?

What will bring you meaning?

So instead of asking only, "Will I have enough money?" I'd encourage people to ask:

"What do I want these years to look like?"

"Am I building the health, purpose, and relationships to live them well?"

That's the shift I'd like people to make.

Tony: Fantastic. That's a great answer.

Dov, where can people learn more about you and Ingagers?

Dov: Our website is ingagers.com, spelled I-N-G-A-G-E-R-S.

That's the best place to learn about the company.

I'm also easy to find on LinkedIn.

I'd love to hear from financial advisors who are thinking about the ideas we've discussed today, as well as others working in this area.

And I'd like to mention one other thing.

We're currently offering early access to a select group of financial advisory firms in the United States.

It's an opportunity for firms to get an early look at the platform, try it with clients, and help shape some of its development.

So if you're an advisor who's interested in this approach, please reach out.

We'd be happy to show you what we've built and explore whether a pilot might make sense.

Tony: Fantastic.

For everyone watching and listening, we'll include links to Ingagers and Dov's social media profiles in the show notes.

Dov, thank you for joining me on Get Ready: Before Life Happens.

Dov: Thank you so much for having me, Tony.

I really appreciate it, and I enjoyed our conversation.

Tony: Likewise. This has been a great conversation.

And thank you, everyone, for tuning in to Get Ready: Before Life Happens.

If something today changed the way you think about money and aging, please share this episode with a friend and subscribe.

You can also visit tonysteuer.com to learn more about the Financial Readiness Plan, the Get Ready Method, and preparing for life's important decisions.

Because when life happens, the way you think about money matters.