Michael Finke's presentation at FPA Retreat 2013 in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday wasted no time in surprising the advisors in attendance.
"Baby boomers have saved more money for retirement than any generation in history," Finke, a professor of personal finance at Texas Tech University said at the outset of "The New Retirement Reality."
The somewhat contrarian speaker said that as such, although we're in a retirement crisis, it's a "bit overblown."
He noted older baby boomers have saved less that younger baby boomers, and younger baby boomers have saved less than Generation X, even accounting for the poor asset returns experienced by the latter.
"And despite the conventional wisdom that it's only getting worse, there were 40% more assets in defined contribution plans in 2012 when compared with 2005," Finke argued.
He added that we are still "about a decade away" from this baby boomer "retirement experiment" with defined contribution plans.
"I'm here to tell you that as baby boomers in the middle of the demographic retire, it will be your job to be their pension managers," he declared.
Finke noted that although pension managers get paid "a million dollars a year," the advisor's job is much harder.
"What do pension managers worry about?" he rhetorically asked. "They worry about asset returns in this low interest rate environment and longevity."
