Advisors Need To Step Up To Help Americans Save For Retirement

As the U.S. retirement market faces unprecedented challenges and opportunities, financial advisors must adapt their approach to better serve clients.

Recent data from ISS Market Intelligence, as reported by Planadviser, reveals several critical areas where advisors need to enhance their service offerings and expertise.

First, advisors must address the growing retirement coverage gap. With approximately one-third of U.S. adults lacking dedicated retirement savings, advisors should actively seek opportunities to partner with small businesses that currently don’t offer retirement plans. The SECURE 2.0 Act provides new incentives for small business plan adoption, creating an untapped market of roughly 6 million businesses without 401(k) plans.

Advisors need to strengthen their role as educators, particularly regarding Social Security optimization, according to ISS Market Intelligence. With lower-income earners expecting to rely on Social Security for more than 50% of their retirement income, advisors must help clients understand the implications of this dependence and develop strategies to diversify income sources.

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The aging workforce presents another critical challenge requiring advisor attention. As Baby Boomers retire, creating net-negative cash flows in defined contribution plans, advisors must develop sophisticated decumulation strategies while encouraging younger generations to increase their retirement savings.

This includes leveraging automatic features, which are currently underutilized in 63% of retirement plans despite their proven effectiveness in driving asset growth.

Financial literacy advocacy should become a core component of advisor services. With retirement assets now comprising 40% of total family wealth, advisors must ensure clients understand their options and make informed decisions about their retirement planning.

By focusing on these areas, advisors can better serve their clients while contributing to the broader goal of improving retirement security for all Americans.

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