The majority of investors (92 percent) have to adjust their retirement income plans after entering retirement, and most are doing so in order to meet necessary expenses, according to a recent survey by Sun Life Financial.

The Retirement Income Pulse Poll of Financial Advisors, a national poll of nearly 500 financial advisors, found that most investors aren’t adjusting their retirement plans to accommodate lifestyle choices; rather, they’re trying to meet basic, non-discretionary costs or avoid running out of income. Specifically, of financial advisors who have clients who changed their retirement plans, 34 percent did so as a result of non-discretionary expenditures such as unexpected health costs, and 43 percent did so to avoid outliving their income. Only 21 percent changed their plans to have more discretionary income.

Sun Life Financial is one of several co-sponsors of National Retirement Planning Week, which begins today.

Other findings from the survey include:

There is a significant gap between investors’ desire to generate guaranteed lifetime income and their understanding of best practices to do so. For example, while the top concern of clients age 50 or older is having enough income to retire on, advisors report that more than half (62 percent) of investors who could benefit from variable annuities don’t actually own them.

Nearly a third (27 percent) of financial advisors say their clients age 50 and older are “not very knowledgeable” or “not knowledgeable at all” about variable annuities. (21 percent are: extremely knowledgeable, 52 percent are somewhat knowledgeable).

Advisors believe investors would be more likely to invest in variable annuities if they had lower fees (43 percent), clients were more educated (38 percent), variable annuities were easier to understand (38 percent), or VAs were a more common investment (29 percent), among other reasons.

“It’s up to us in the retirement income planning field to show that guaranteed retirement income solutions are worth the money given the protection they help to provide against the risk of declining interest rates, the risk of a declining stock market, and the risk (if you’re are lucky enough to live a long life) of running out of money,” said Terry Mullen, president of Sun Life Financial Distributors in a statement. “Investors are paying us to provide them a guaranteed income stream for 30 or 40 years. That’s an important service, since for most Americans, gone are the days of defined benefit plans, where the employer provided guaranteed lifetime retirement income.”

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Investors must adjust plans in retirement, study shows

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