Approaching retirement, boomers still tied up in some riskier bets

Baby boomers approaching retirement may be nervous about outliving their savings — but they continue to keep most of their money in riskier investments. A new survey from the Insured Retirement Institute found that baby boomers who were within five years of retirement kept 43% of their assets in real estate. The organization polled some 270 boomer households, with an average net worth of $717,000. The boomers were within five years of retiring, and on average, were 59 years old. Close to a quarter of the nearly-retired boomers' assets were in retirement accounts and individual annuities, while 14% of their dollars went into so-called risky investments, including mutual funds, real estate investment trusts and exchange-traded funds. The polled participants placed only a sliver — 10% — of their assets into “safe” or “guaranteed” products, such as checking accounts, savings bonds, Treasuries and cash value in life insurance policies. Nonetheless, fully 67% of the boomers approaching retirement felt confident about their abilities to meet their long-term financial goals. Close to 80% of the polled households said they would try to live on income alone, including Social Security and pensions. Of note to advisers: Approximately six out of 10 ten boomers within five years of retirement prefer to consult a specialist when making financial decisions. Unretired boomers cite retirement planning as the top financial advice that they would like to receive in the next 12 months, expressing a clear preference to gaining that information in a face-to-face exchange, rather than via online and electronic means.