The boomer retirement gap: 13 key findings [infographic]

Only 4 in 10 (41 percent) of middle-income baby boomers use the services of a financial professional, according to a new report.

Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement (CSR) discloses this finding in “The Middle-Income Boomer Retirement Gap: Savings, Education and Advice.” Conducted by the Blackstone Group, the survey polled 1,000 Americans aged 50 to 68 with an annual household income between $25,000 and $100,000.

Of middle-income boomers not working with a financial professional, four in 10 (39 percent) don’t seek financial advice because they prefer to make their own financial decisions. Other boomers say they don’t have enough savings (20 percent) or believe that financial advice is too expensive (11 percent) to warrant the services of an advisor.

Of boomers who don’t have a financial professional:

• 85 percent have not been contacted by one asking for their business in the past year.
• 63 percent have never been contacted.

Of boomers who do have a financial professional:

• One quarter (25 percent) sought out the relationship themselves.
• In fewer than one in 10 (6 percent) of cases, the advisor initiated the relationship.

Two-thirds (62 percent) of middle-income boomers doubt they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement.

About half (48 percent) who work with a financial professional are confident they’ll have enough money to live comfortably in retirement regardless of asset level, while less than a third (30 percent) without a professional feel that way.