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If clients ages 50 and older are backing away from you, you could start by checking your body odor.
The next thing to check might be whether you know much about strategies for collecting Social Security benefits.
Nationwide recently released survey data suggesting that the ability to counsel clients about Social Security may be a major factor in determining whether financial professionals keep, or lose, clients nearing retirement age.
The Nationwide Survey
A research unit affiliated with Nationwide has posted data on clients' views of Social Security benefits claiming advice in a summary of results from a new online survey of 1,315 U.S. adults ages 50 and older. About half of the participants were classified as "affluent," meaning that they had $250,000 or more in investable assets.
Some of the participants had been retired 10 or more years, some were more recent retirees, and some were still working.
The Data
The survey team found gaps in Social Security benefits knowledge: about a quarter, for example, said their Social Security payment has turned out to be lower than they had expected.
Only about 8% said their Social Security payments have been turned out to be more than expected.
Roughly one-third of the survey participants are working with some kind of financial professional.
