Some 14% of respondents indicated the affordability of health care or long-term care for themselves or their spouse was their No. 1 financial care, down from 15.9% in 2008. Those numbers may be less a reflection of declining health-care concerns than of investors' increasing worries about meeting daily expenses in retirement, Diehl said.
Meanwhile, those who had a retirement plan in place were more confidant than those who didn't. Nearly one-third of those who had a plan were "very" or "extremely" confident that they'll have sufficient income in retirement, compared to 10% of those who had not planned, the survey found. Also, 57.7% of those with plans in place said they were on target to retire as planned, compared with 38.7% of those who didn't, according to the survey.
"The things that we fear the most are the things we feel most uneducated about," said Diehl. "One of the most important roles a financial adviser can play is the role of education, helping people understand what happened in the last market cycle or how such cycles eventually resolve themselves."
Even the survey itself reflects the new reality. For three years, Hartford conducted the survey internationally, but this year it canvassed only U.S. consumers.
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