Americans have become a nation of risk avoiders, at least when it comes to money, and that could be hampering their efforts to save an adequate amount for retirement.

That’s according to new Ameriprise Financial research, which found that 73 percent of Americans try to avoid risk entirely, or consider the risk factor very carefully when making financial decisions.

Read: How women's lower pay will come back to haunt them in retirement

The “Financial Risks & Investor Attitudes” study surveyed Americans from the age of 25 up to 70, from millennials with at least $25,000 in investable assets to Gen Xers and baby boomers with at least $100,000 in investable assets.

Respondents fell into four separate categories:

risk avoiders
risk mitigators
risk managers
risk embracers

Risk embracers, only made up 3 percent of the group.

Risk avoiders, the most cautious of the lot, constituted 31 percent of respondents and actually increased their risk exposure without being aware of it.

Although 42 percent of this group said they weren’t willing to take risks with their money, many of them report being underinsured. They also only make investments with guaranteed returns, and some are storing their savings in cash.

This group is also less likely to conduct the research necessary to help mitigate risk. The majority of risk avoiders are baby boomers and female (61 percent).

Most risk mitigators, the largest group at 42 percent of respondents—and pretty evenly distributed among age groups—say they’re willing to take risks if they’ve done enough research; 89 percent said so.

But they also look upon risk as a negative, associating it with loss or uncertainty in their investment outlook.

They’re more engaged in such financial prudence as diversifying investments and being sufficiently covered by health and life insurance. But they’re not confident about their approach to investing and risk, generally sticking to low-risk investments and moving into more conservative choices when the market is volatile—something that’s not always to their advantage.

Risk managers, on the other hand, think of risk as an opportunity. While they only made up 25 percent of respondents, 100 percent of them thought of risk in a positive manner.

Almost half are heavily into the market, most say they understand the details of their 401(k)s, and 61 percent of them are male.

Risk embracers get excited at the thought of taking chances with their money (39 percent) and 64 percent characterize themselves as risk seekers.

More than three quarters (76 percent) will jump careers without financial security or take the leap to buy a house by borrowing too much; 56 percent of risk embracers are millennials, and 67 percent are male.

Read: 401(k)s beat pensions for higher income replacement rates

Read: The retirement expert who got death threats

Instant Insights /

4 ways of viewing risk: Americans and retirement money

More From HR Executive

Related Stories

Recommended For You