It's not surprising that using an adviser can improve a person's odds of having enough money for retirement. What might be surprising is that using an online calculator can help even more. According to EBRI’s latest Retirement Confidence Survey, families in the highest income quartile increased their chances of being retirement ready by 14.7% when using a calculator, compared with 11% who consulted an advisor. Families in the lowest income quartile increased their chances of being retirement ready by 14.6% when using a calculator versus 9.1% of those who used an advisor.
One likely explanation for this data is that clients don’t always apply the investment advice they get from advisors, notes EBRI research director Jack VanDerhei. “It could be that they’re not following the advice, or that they went to the adviser and asked about asset allocation, but they didn’t seek any advice on retirement savings.”
Predictably, individuals who guessed how much they needed to save for retirement had the worst outcomes.
