Most U.S. households with between $100,000 and $500,000 in investable assets have not developed a formal retirement income plan, nor consulted with a financial advisor, according to a survey by Cerulli Associates.

"It means that some investors are entering retirement without an income plan for the next 20 plus years of their lives," Tom Modesto, associate director at Cerulli said. 

However, Cerulli analyst Alessandra Hobler said there may be a silver lining to this retirement dark cloud.

"The silver lining is that this represents a great opportunity for asset managers, broker/dealers, and retirement plan providers to increase retirement income planning education," Hobler said. "This lack of planning can result in rollover opportunities after retirement."

Cerulli analysts also found that the few investors who are working with a financial advisor were not likely to move or switch their assets to another advisor.

Investors with between $500,000 and $2 million in investable assets were more prepared for retirement and many were working with an advisor, according to Cerulli. And investors who fell within this income range were more likely to switch assets to another advisor. It's likely due to the fact that once these investors enter retirement, they look for an advisor with strong, established retirement income planning services, according to Cerulli.

The survey also made the following findings:

Although pre-retirees should be a primary target for advisors, more than half of retired investors do no planning in advance of retirement.

The sweet spot for asset managers looking for new clients is investors in their late fifties.

Firms that have not had the opportunity to work with investors during their asset accumulation stage can still profit from asset rollovers when people retire.

-Jim McConville