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November 01, 2007 at 04:00 AM
Financial planners want products and services that will facilitate discussions regarding retirement income planning with their clients, according to a new Financial Planning Association study on planners’ attitudes about retirement income.
The study–Financial Planner Attitudes and Perceptions about the Retirement Income Distribution Market–was sponsored by Fidelity Investments and produced by the Diversified Services Group, Inc. in June 2007, and surveyed over 750 FPA members. The survey found that financial planners understand the potential of retirement income planning for their businesses, and almost half (47%) of the respondents expect that between 10% and 30% of their growth will come from serving retirement income and planning needs. To boot, over the next year, more than half anticipate that at least 25% of their new clients and assets will come from IRA rollover activity alone.
The study also found that a majority of financial planners’ clients are already retired, and that number is expected to accelerate over the next five years, significantly impacting advisors’ time and resources as clients start to focus on income distribution over asset accumulation. From a revenue standpoint, planners who charge a fee based on assets under management or custody are likely to find themselves spending more time working for clients who generate less revenue. This may favor the trend toward a “fee-for-service” based model. Advisors are already anticipating this trend, with more than 40% expecting their fees for service to increase as clients continue to retire.
“The resources financial planners value most–in light of the increased retirement income business–are ones that enable and facilitate their communication and conversations with clients,” said Nicholas Nicolette, president of FPA, in a statement. “Planners recognize that these resources are key to facilitating the conversations that allow them to better align their financial planning services with their clients’ needs while increasing the proportion of client assets that they oversee.”
Sparking the Conversation
Speaking of communicating with clients, the research also shows that the “conversation with the client,” which refers to the series of interactions the financial planner has when his or her client is fully engaged in the retirement income and planning discussion, is a major step in the planning process.
