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Gen X to Advisors: Don’t Judge Me

A new survey finds that the best strategy financial professionals can employ when working with Gen Xers (age 35-48) is to be empathetic and nonjudgmental — and more than a third are looking for an advisor who doesn’t judge their choices, even if they are indulgent.

That’s right, nearly two-thirds (64%) of Gen Xers say they want a financial professional who makes recommendations that reflect their actual life and choices, not some ideal, according to the "Generations Apart" study commissioned by Allianz Life.

Little wonder then that most (64%) get so bogged down by uncertainty whenever they think about retirement, that they don’t take any action to secure their financial future.

And Gen Xers put off retirement planning in part, the study found, because they are stumped by the next steps: Nearly three-quarters (72%) feel it is almost impossible to figure out what retirement expenses are going to be, and more than two-thirds (67%) feel the supposed targets for how much is needed to fund retirement are way out of reach for them.

Not that they are overly worried about such things: More than half (55%) of Gen Xers see themselves having a relaxed, easy time of it in retirement, and 46% report they will just figure out retirement when they get there.

Despite the reality that the first of the Gen Xers turn 50 this year, half of that demographic describe themselves as more “live for today” than “save for tomorrow” and 44% say they will splurge on something they want.

The vast majority (92%) of Gen Xers feel that Americans are in the midst of a national retirement crisis, and an even greater number (94%) believe it’s critical to build their own financial security in retirement. In no small part, it would seem, because Gen Xers are doubtful that pensions, Social Security and Medicare will be there for them and feel they will never have enough saved to stop working.

The Allianz Generations Apart Study was conducted by Larson Research + Strategy via online interviews in November 2014 with 2,000 U.S. adults ages 35-67 with a minimum household income of $30,000, and was commissioned by Allianz Life.

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