Only four in 10 Americans nearing retirement are working with a financial professional, according to LIMRA's 2026 Retirement Income Readiness Report - a figure that points to one of the largest unmet demand opportunities in the industry today.
The report, which surveyed 486 pre-retirees and 804 retirees aged 45 and older across the United States in April 2026, defines pre-retirees as workers age 45 and older who plan to retire within 10 years. Nearly nine in 10 of them (88%) said they have thought about how they will generate income after leaving work. But 76% either have no retirement plan at all or spent fewer than five hours in the past year developing, reviewing or updating one.
"Consumers have already done the hardest part. They are paying attention, and they are worried about the right things," said Bill Nash, head of member relations at LIMRA and LOMA. "What's missing is the step from thinking to doing, and that is exactly where the industry comes in."
Pre-retirees who work with a financial professional report notably stronger feelings of preparedness.
Among those with a professional relationship, 77% describe themselves as highly prepared for retirement compared with 47% of those going it alone. But the LIMRA data also surface a troubling mismatch between perceived and actual readiness.
Nearly six in 10 pre-retirees rate themselves as highly prepared, even as the same respondents reveal significant planning shortfalls. Half have no written retirement plan or have not updated one recently. And as InvestmentNews reported in August only 25% of pre-retirees believe their protected income sources will cover basic living expenses in retirement compared with 52% of retirees who say those sources fully meet their needs today.
LIMRA's report frames the advice gap as a structural opportunity. The population of pre-retirees is already engaged - worried about cost-of-living volatility (43%), concerned about outliving their savings (30%) and, in most cases, open to a conversation. What they lack is a concrete next step.
The report outlines five approaches for advisors looking to reach this audience.
Outreach built around urgency is likely to miss the mark, because prospective clients are already convinced that retirement planning matters. What resonates more is acknowledging their concerns and offering something immediate and tangible in return.
Making a written plan the first deliverable is one of the highest-impact moves available. Half of pre-retirees have no current written plan, and the data show that those who do report significantly higher preparedness. As recent Cerulli research covered by InvestmentNews found, pre-retirees want a personalized, actionable plan, not a product pitch.
Income framing matters too. Nearly three in four pre-retirees (74%) said they want to learn more about protected lifetime income. But only a quarter believe their existing sources will cover essential expenses. Translating a portfolio into a monthly retirement paycheck, and showing where that income will come from, addresses the question clients are actually asking.
LIMRA suggests structuring early retirement conversations around three dimensions: readiness, resilience and retirement income. That means establishing whether a client has a written plan and is saving consistently; stress-testing that plan against inflation, health care costs and market swings; and translating accumulated assets into a clear income picture.
Cost-of-living volatility is pre-retirees' top named concern. Building a conversation around that anxiety, rather than leading with portfolio performance, is more likely to move a prospect from interested to engaged.
The report also cautions against treating confident clients as low priority. Even financially prepared households worry about running out of money, and those who feel secure are often precisely the ones who have not pressure-tested their assumptions.
The broader retirement income planning challenge facing advisors is not new, but the scale of the unadvised pre-retiree population makes the stakes clear.
Six in 10 Americans within a decade of retirement are navigating one of the most consequential financial transitions of their lives without professional support. For advisors with capacity to grow, that number is the pitch.
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