Financial service professionals are overlooking guaranteed income products when advising boomer clients in their 50s and 60s in need of retirement income planning, according to new research.
Saybrus Partners, a unit of The Phoenix Companies Inc., discloses this finding in a survey of advisors polled at the 2015 annual conference of the Financial Planning Association, held in Boston, Sept. 26-28. The FPA is the principal organization for certified financial planner (CFP) professionals, of which there are more than 66,000 in the U.S.
The survey finds that 65 percent of advisors identify "retirement income distribution planning" as the biggest goal for clients in this age group. But only 27 percent of advisors typically recommend fixed and/or fixed indexed annuities.
The "overlooked opportunity" is puzzling, given another key finding of the research: that nearly 6 in 10 (58 percent) of respondents believe their clients face longevity risk — the possibility they will outlive their savings.
"Financial professionals may not be recommending annuities as often as they could for pre-retirees," said Mark Fitzgerald, national sales manager for Saybrus Partners. "It is clear that both new and veteran financial professionals have an opportunity to fill an unmet need in their clients' portfolios."
