Boomers search for trustworthy retirement advice; many will break from financial institutions

Meanwhile, research released last week from the Retirement Income Industry Association’s (RIIA) Research Committee indicates boomers are likely to decrease the number of relationships they have with financial institutions and will collectively reshape the entire financial industry. RIIA released these findings in a new study entitled “Financial Institutions and Retiring Boomers: Convergence’s Payoff or Payback?”

“This is a life-stage phenomenon made more dramatic by the sheer number of boomers in retirement and entering retirement,” said Larry Cohen, Vice President and Director of SRI Consulting Business Intelligence and co-author of the study. “When boomers reach the empty nest stage, they discover that they no longer need all of the financial relationships that they have accumulated over 40 years of homebuilding and career development. This will result in even more cuts in the number of financial relationships and the transference of assets to a smaller number of firms that can meet Boomer needs. Plus, this transformation may occur over a much shorter timeframe due to the tumultuous events of the last several months in the financial markets.”