Boomer Surveys: Allianz, MetLife

By staff Writer

June 17, 2010 at 08:00 PM

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Typical baby boomer workers have no idea how much they need to save to generate the amount of income they would like to collect when they retire.

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Golden Valley, Minn., a unit of Allianz S.E., Munich, Germany, has published that finding in a summary of results from a survey of 3,200 Americans ages 44 to 75 conducted in May.

Allianz defined all of those survey participants as boomers.

About 36% of the survey participants said they have no idea if their retirement income will last through retirement, Allianz says.

Half of the participants said they would need an income of $59,000 per year to live comfortably in retirement.

When the participants were asked how much they would have to save to generate that much retirement income, the estimates they came up with were only about one-third of the actual amount, Allianz says.

In related news, a unit of MetLife Inc., New York (NYSE:MET), and the Financial Planning Association, Denver, commissioned a Web-based survey of 1,068 financial professionals who have boomers as clients.

About 70% of the advisors who participated in the survey, which was conducted in March and April, said boomer clients' interest in financial products that provide a guaranteed stream of income has increased, and 72% said the recent economic crisis has made boomer clients more risk averse.

But only 50% of the advisors said boomer clients' discipline about saving for retirement has increased.

Meanwhile, 49% of the participants said they think a full economic recovery is 3 to 4 years away, and 35% said a full recovery is at least 5 years away.

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