Most Households Are Satisfied With Their Financial Advisors

By Cyril Tuohy

InsuranceNewsNet

Financial advisors remain an integral part of the financial planning for households within three years of retirement and for households in retirement. In addition, more than four in five of those clients are satisfied with the advice they receive, a recent survey has found.

Retirees are dependent upon the income and principal they draw from their investments, and many retirees are open to using financial advisors.

More than 60 percent of working households within three years of retirement, and more than 70 percent of retired households, use a financial advisor to plan for retirement, according to findings in the report “Retirement Income Gap Solution” by Spectrem Group.

The report was drawn from a survey data last year, which was a great year for the stock market.

“Despite the recession and the slowly recovering economy, those who are retired are not worried about outliving their assets,” Spectrem Group researchers write in the executive summary. “Additionally, even those who are contemplating retirement are not exceptionally worried.”

The survey was based on responses from 846 people retired more than five years, and on responses from 739 people still working but contemplating retirement in the next three years. Retirees in the survey sample were surviving on income from defined contribution plans, individual retirement accounts, savings and Social Security, Spectrem Group said.

Among survey respondents still in the workforce and working with an advisor, 17 percent said they used an advisor for investment advice only, 5 percent said they used an advisor for retirement planning only and 40 percent said they used an advisor for both investment and income planning.

The survey also found that 38 percent of respondents still in the workforce were not using a financial advisor.

Among the working households, 83 percent rated their advisor as “excellent” or “very good” in terms of satisfaction, the survey found. Only 2 percent reported an unsatisfactory rating.

Among survey respondents who were in retirement, 26 percent said they used a financial advisor for investment advice only, 2 percent said they used an advisor for income planning only and 43 percent said they used an advisor for both investment and income planning.

Only 29 percent said they don’t use a financial advisor, the survey found.

Among the retired households, 66 percent rated their advisor as “excellent” or “very good” in terms of satisfaction and 14 percent rated their advisor as “fair” or “poor,” the survey also found.

Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. Cyril may be reached at [email protected].

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Cyril Tuohy is a writer based in Pennsylvania. He has covered the financial services industry for more than 15 years. He can be reached at [email protected].