Advisers’ advising, but boomers not buying

Sure, everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. The same can be said about the investment habits of baby boomers, who continue to worry about their retirement savings but do precious little to change the situation.

According to a new survey conducted by MetLife Inc., nearly half of the boomers polled said they check their retirement balance at least once a week. Eight of ten check the amount at least once a month.

Nevertheless, only a third say they are confident in their investments. Not surprisingly, advisers, who were also surveyed by MetLife, said they were concerned about this lack of action by their clients. In fact, 72% said they recommended to their clients that they up their kick-in to the retirement plans.

Only 18% of boomers said they had done that in the last year.

Why? Volatility has them worried, with a bit more than half of the polled boomers saying their comfort zone for volatility — that is, rapid swings up or down in the value of their investments — is 10% or less. One-quarter of boomers were only comfortable with a volatility range of 5% or less.

In fact, about three-quarters of all investors said they were concerned about market volatility even when the market is going up, and only 29% of investors who did not use a financial adviser said they felt confident in their investments. That figure rose to 34% for investors who did have a financial adviser.

As nervous as boomers are, the situation has improved from two years ago, when 75% of respondents said they more focused on protection against losses than participating in market gains. This year, the split is about half and half.

MetLlife survey 520 financial advisers and 1,038 adults over 45 with at least $100,000 to invest.

Interestingly, 71% of advisers said they recommend that clients reallocate their investment portfolios. Only 29% of boomers say they have done that in the last year.

Likewise, only 5% of boomers have formalized a written retirement plan, even though about half of the surveyed advisers said they suggested the idea to clients.