Americans Worry About Basic Expenses in Retirement, but Silver Lining for Advisors

Being able to afford healthcare was third on the list, with 14% identifying that as their primary concern. That figure is down from the 15.9% who listed that as number one last year, which could be due to optimism about healthcare reform or because other issues have become more worrisome.

The greatest risk found by the survey was fear of “outliving my money” (23%) and the number of respondents who saw the lack of a guaranteed income as the biggest risk nearly doubled to 19.2% from 10.2% in 2008.

There are some encouraging indicators in the survey as well, particularly for financial planners and other advisors including:

1. * Those who planned for retirement were three times more likely to be confident that they will have sufficient income in retirement;
2. * Those who said they had planned for retirement were three times more likely to rely on an independent financial expert for credible financial advice than those who said they did no planning;
3. * More than 82% of respondents said they were less than confident in their financial planning knowledge and abilities, with 34.2% indicating they were “not too” or “not at all” confident;
4. * Retirement and/or financial planning are viewed as too complex or too difficult by 50% of Americans.

The survey was conducted in the summer of 2009 and polled 751 consumers age 45 or older who were initially contacted by e-mail and then completed the survey online.