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March 30, 2005 at 07:00 PM
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Many U.S. workers like the idea of getting retirement savings advice through a face-to-face meeting with a financial professional.
Researchers with Mathew Greenwald & Associates and the Employee Benefit Research Institute, both of Washington, published data supporting that conclusion in the 2005 Retirement Confidence Survey.
The researchers based their data on telephone interviews with 1,001 U.S. workers age 25 and older and 252 retirees.
Although 87% of the survey participants told interviewers they have used retirement planning advice from spouses, 57% have used advice from other friends and relatives, 55% have used written materials received at work, and 63% said they have used advice from financial professionals.
When interviewers asked the participants who already were saving for retirement which resources were the most helpful, financial professionals ran away with the race: 38% of the savers said they found advice from financial professionals to be the most helpful resource. About 17% of the savers identified friends and non-spouse relatives as the most helpful resource, and 11% of the savers said their spouses were the most helpful resource.
Fewer than 10% of the savers said information from the Internet, information from the television or radio, or information from seminars was the most useful.
“The likelihood of finding a financial professional most helpful is higher among workers with household incomes of at least $35,000 and those who have some college education or more,” the researchers write in the survey report.
