Interestingly, those who encountered financial difficulties were also significantly more concerned about having adequate funding during retirement (45%) as opposed to the others (35%) who had no setbacks. Overall, one-third (37%) of the investors surveyed were concerned about running out of money during retirement.

Generally speaking, younger investors were more concerned about this than older investors, which makes sense as the youngest investor looks down the long road ahead where the future is uncertain. Forty percent of those under age 50 expressed concern over having enough to retire and live on, versus only 30% of investors age 65 and over. This may be partly attributed to the future uncertainty of social security and the fact that fewer employers are offering defined benefit plans and 401(k)s are typically affected by the market whims. Though, younger investors (those under age 50) are more willing to take on additional risk as they get wealthier.

In terms of outlook, suffering a financial setback seems to predict that an investor will be more risk tolerant, but perhaps more anxious about other things, like amassing enough to sustain them in their golden years.

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