Retirement plan balances have been rising after a decade of fat markets.
But many of your clients, or would be clients, are not reassured. They are worried about achieving retirement goals. They still fear that their retirement years will be anything but golden.
That’s according to BlackRock, which recently conducted a yearly survey on how Americans view their ability pay for retirement.
This year, 62 percent of workers interviewed said they are worried about having enough retirement income, according to the BlackRock Pulse Survey. That number was up some 14 percent compared to last year, BlackRock officials said.
“The survey found that after several years of increased confidence in retirement, the numbers have flatlined,” says Anne Ackerley, head of U.S. and Canada Defined Contribution (DC) group at BlackRock.
And women feel the fear about running out of money in retirement more than men.
“Women in general,” the survey said, “are more concerned about their retirement. Just 50 percent say they are on track, compared to 69 percent of men.”
“People are really frightened about paying for retirement. We try to cheer them up. And we remind them that the last ten years have been great for the market,” according to Bob Karn, a CFP and an attorney with his own advisory practice in Farmington, Connecticut.
Why the retirement planning angst?
“It’s one of the toughest financial hurdles facing workers today,” Ackerley added, “how to take hard earned savings and create lasting income through retirement.”
Ackerley says that year end volatility may have been a factor in the retirement anxiety numbers rising this year. Nevertheless, she believes the figures reflect “a growing recognition of just how difficult it is to take hard-earned savings and create lasting income through retirement.”