A robust 90% of advisors surveyed said that retirement income planning is part of their practice and 69% say they frequently encounter clients needing assistance with retirement planning. Considering the graying of the baby boomers and the fact that, on average, 38% of clients plan to retire within the next 10 years, retirement income solutions are only going to grow in importance in the coming years.

Indeed, while 36% of advisors now report that retirement planning is a portion of their business, 63% believe it will be a portion of their business in the future.

But 80% of advisors are concerned about locking their clients into a retirement income product for a long term. They would like to see more retirement income products that are not annuities, products with more flexibility. Despite the fact that annuities can be a good solution for retirement income, as they are easy to set up and have many incarnations, there is a definite hole in the market. This could be an opportunity for providers to look at new product offerings. Currently 73% of advisors are using bonds when setting up a retirement income planning strategy while 59% use annuities.

A majority of advisors report that they are interested in receiving additional help in order to better service their clients with retirement income planning. Because they are looking for more help and more training, there are certain solutions that may be missing from the arsenal of the advisor that belong there, ultimately. For example, 50% of those surveyed do not have specialized investments for those seeking retirement income.

As the number of clients who are seeking these services increases, the pressure on advisors and providers to offer what may be hybrid products will increase. The search for the correct product for affluent investors will continue until the void is filled.

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