Clients tell advisers they plan to work for longer and retire later

A survey of financial advisers has revealed that 71% say their clients plan to work longer and retire later to bridge the gap in their retirement savings. More than two in three advisers believe that their clients will carry on working for longer and retire later, compared to five years ago. Adviser research by Blackrock suggests this is likely to be because clients are more aware of the potential shortfalls in their pensions savings.The BlackRock Investor Pulse Adviser Survey found seven in 10 (70%) advisers think their clients are concerned about outliving their savings in retirement and three quarters of advisers (71%) believe their clients are planning on working longer and retiring later. A further 66% of advisers say that their clients are concerned about the potential cost of funding long-term care.Despite clients fearing they will outlive their retirement savings, four in five (82%) advisers disclosed they believe their clients hold too much cash or are too risk averse. Furthermore, two in five (39%) advisers believe not taking inflation into account is a common investment mistake people makeWhile advised clients save and invest double the amount (41%) of their take home pay each month compared to non-advised clients (23%), they are still over-allocating to cash within their investment portfolios (47%) as they admitted ideally they would hold less than a third of their assets in cash, the research found.{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}The findings also revealed that advisers' attempts to diversify client portfolios away from cash is reflected in their 2015 asset allocation approach, as two in five (40%) plan to increase client's exposure to equities. Advisers are also encouraging increased positions in multi-asset (36%) while reducing positions in cash (52%) and fixed income (56%), says Blackrock.Currently, advised client portfolios have allocations to cash (45%), equities (23%), bonds (12%), property (11%), alternatives (5%) and other (4%). Non-advised investors have 74% allocated to cash and only 10% dedicated to equity investments, 6% to bonds and 4% to property.Almost two-thirds of advisers are confident about the current investment environment, with nearly seven in ten (69%) feeling positive.However, half (50%) of advised clients, think the state of the UK economy is a risk to their financial future, while only 39% of advisers consider this a concern.Jeremy Roberts, head of UK retail sales, at BlackRock, said: "Saving for retirement and working longer is clearly preying on the minds of British people, which is unsurprising given the new choices and control they now have over their pension at retirement."Data is from the UK respondents of the BlackRock Global Investor Pulse Survey from August to September 2014 and the UK Financial Adviser Investor Pulse survey (250 respondents). BlackRock research was conducted from 24 July to 23 August 2014 among a nationally representative sample of 27,500 financial decision-makers, in 20 countries, aged 25 to 74 years old. In the UK 2,000 were surveyed.

Clients tell advisers they plan to work for longer and retire later

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