Working With an Adviser Doubles Sense of Retirement Security

Having a financial adviser certainly benefits people working towards the goal of retirement, the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute found in a survey. Forty-three percent of pre-retirees, those between the ages of 50 and 75, who have an adviser feel secure about their future retirement, compared to 21% of pre-retirees without an adviser.

Asked why they have turned to an adviser, 43% of people said it was to minimize the risk of running out of money in retirement, followed by protecting their portfolio (32%), minimizing taxes (27%), helping them establish a realistic budget for their retirement (26%) and maintaining perspective (25%).

Sixty-seven percent of those who have an adviser and a formal written retirement plan say they feel confident about retirement, compared to 34% of those without a written plan.

The survey also found that only 27% of pre-retires have tried to figure out how to generate retirement income, and only 31% have attempted to figure out how long their savings will last. Twenty percent have not completed any retirement planning activities.

“Our research demonstrates the value of working with an adviser and having a retirement income plan,” says Jafor Iqbal, assistant vice president at the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. “In an environment with greater emphasis on [putting the] client interest first and transparency, advisers need to shift their focus to providing retirement planning activities, which will validate their product recommendations.”

The findings are based on an online survey of 1,050 adults between the ages of 50 and 75.