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Retirement Planning > Saving for Retirement

Here’s Why Baby Boomers Need Advisors

By Michael S. Fischer

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In a recent survey about retirement risks, only one in three baby boomers expected to have sufficient income to last through retirement.

Even those with a source of lifetime income were worried, with 56% expressing concern or extreme concern about outliving their savings.

Annexus, which designs fixed indexed annuities, life insurance and other index-based wealth management products, commissioned research and advisory firm Forrester to poll Americans aged 50 to 70 on their most pressing financial concerns, the steps they had taken to prepare for retirement and the value they place on working with a financial advisor.

“We’ve seen a massive shift in the retirement landscape that has forced baby boomers to become largely self-reliant in building and protecting their retirement assets,” Annexus co-founder Don Dady said in a statement.

“Boomers are living longer, and their savings need to fund a retirement that could last 20–30 years or more and factor in rising health care costs, taxes and inflation.”

Eighty-five percent of survey respondents, regardless of retirement savings and income level, said it was important or extremely important to have another source of dependable income besides Social Security.

However, 44% did not know which investment was best suited to provide such income.

“The research to us reveals that shifting retirement realities have contributed not only to a retirement income gap, but a financial product knowledge gap as well,” Annexus co-founder Ron Shurts said in the statement.

“Annexus sees a tremendous opportunity for the financial services industry, not only to educate clients, but to ensure that as fiduciaries we understand which products are best suited to address clients’ top concerns.”

The research indicated a correlation between the level of boomer income and retirement savings and the importance individuals placed on professional financial advice.

Only 45% of respondents overall considered working with an advisor important or extremely important. The proportion jumped to 58% for those with an annual income of at least $100,000, and to 63% for those with $500,000 or more in retirement savings.

Seventy percent of boomers surveyed who considered it important to work with an advisor said they would purchase an annuity within their IRA.

A similar percentage of respondents expressed concern or extreme concern about the effect of inflation. And 75% felt that tax advantages were important or extremely important in retirement investments.

— Check out Too Few People Bought What You Sell: Treasury Economist on ThinkAdvisor.

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