Financial Advisors: Economic Downturn Hitting Boomers Hardest

New Research Unveiled by the Partnership for Retirement Education and Planning (PREP)

Park Ridge, IL – March 6, 2009 – In comprehensive new research of financial services professionals, 77 percent of respondents indicated the current economic downturn has had a significantly greater impact on their Boomer generation clients than any other generation. More positively, 73 percent said the downturn has made their Boomer clients more focused on financial planning (also more than any other generation).

According to the research, Boomers have neglected planning because they don’t fully understand the value (a barrier cited by 78 percent of respondents) and they are embarrassed that they haven’t accumulated more assets (mentioned by 70 percent of respondents) and thus ignore the problem. Nearly half (49 percent) of financial advisors responding to the survey said at least 75 percent of the impetus for a successful financial plan comes from them rather than the client.

"The current economic downturn has hit at a bad time for people who are in their late 50’s or early 60’s and haven’t prepared for the future," says Philip E. Harriman, CLU, ChFC, past president of the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), an international, non-profit association of more than 39,000 financial service professionals. "With a simultaneous strain on employment, home values and investments, these Boomers are being hit harder now than generations older or younger. If there is a silver lining in this dark cloud, perhaps this is a wake-up call for Boomers to get busy managing their financial well-being." more »