The financial service industry is so busy catering to wealthyAmericans that many middle-income Americans are inadequatelyprepared for retirement, according to a study by the Bankers Lifeand Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement.

The CSR's Middle-Income Retirement Preparedness Study found that51 percent of middle-income retirees and pre-retirees (those withincomes between $25,000 and $75,000) had not been contacted by aretirement professional in the past 12 months, and 54 percent donot receive professional retirement guidance of any kind.Additionally, of those who do work with a retirement professional,84 percent said they were the ones to initiate contact with theadvisor.

Eighty-four percent of those not working with a financialadvisor do not believe they need one. Chief reasons for not workingwith financial advisor include:

• I can do it myself (47 percent)
• I don’t have enough assets (37 percent)
• It’s too expensive (23 percent)

Those who do have retirement advisors feel they’re worth it; twoin three (68 percent) middle-income Americans who work with aprofessional feel better prepared for retirement than their peers,and 76 percent said they were extremely or very satisfied withtheir retirement professional. In fact, only 14 percent ofrespondents working with an advisor do not think they have savedenough money to live comfortably in retirement, whereas one-third(34 percent) of those surveyed without a professional advisor havethis concern.

Other key findings from the study include:

• Almost two in three (63 percent) middle-income Americans age 55to 75 are unsure if they have saved enough to live comfortably inretirement.
• Of all middle-income retirees and pre-retirees surveyed, 30percent spend no time at all researching or investigatingretirement planning opportunities; two out of three (61 percent)spend less than one hour per month.
• Although those without an advisor enjoy planning, 63 percentspend less than one hour per month on retirement planning comparedto 58 percent of those with an advisor. Over one-third (36 percent)of those without an advisor spend no time at all doing thisresearch.