In Practice January 23, 2008

Financial Planners Cite Retirement Concern among Clients

Almost all (91%) financial planner CPAs surveyed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) cited retirement as a top personal finance concern of clients.
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Health care (59%) ranked a distance second, followed by education (47%), according to the survey results.

Financial planner CPAs also reported younger clients are postponing major life activities due to financial considerations. More than a third (35%) said clients age 25 to 34 are postponing buying a home, and 24% said younger clients are postponing retirement due to finances.

Survey respondents said on average 61% of their clients are on track for retirement, while 32% are postponing retirement for financial reasons.

Thirty percent of financial planner CPAs said their clients are carrying more credit card debt than they did five years ago. While the number one reason cited for the additional debt was excessive discretionary spending (81%), 40% said their clients’ debt increased from using credit cards to pay basic living expenses.

The survey was conducted in December via a questionnaire emailed to members of the AICPA Financial Planning Membership Section, and received 427 responses (44% of respondents manage more than $10 million in assets; 10% manage $5 million to $10 million in assets; 21% have $1 million to $5 million in assets under management; 8% are managing between $500,000

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