Less than one in three retirees seeks a financial planner and those that do are wealthier to begin with.
A Newspoll survey of 400 semi and fully retired Australians revealed 30 per cent of people have engaged a professional planner in the last 12 months.
Sixty-five per cent of those who opt to go it alone believe they didn’t need financial advice, the data found, which was commissioned for Citibank’s latest retirement index report.
A further 15 per cent were unaware of how an adviser could help with retirement arrangements.
The Citibank report noted that the responses were made in May 2007 during the lead up to the Federal Government’s superannuation reforms.
“It remains to be seen…if the simplification of our superannuation regime will raise or lower the bar when it comes to securing professional advice and whether providers will begin to offer additional solutions for lower income retirees,” the financial group said.
Those living in New South Wales and Western Australia were more likely to visit a planner than those in other states.
Fifty one per cent of those who were not confident about their retirement income wish they had done more in the way of financial planning, yet 92 per cent had not seen a planner in the past year.
Those most likely to seek financial advice are generally better off to begin with.
Forty per cent of those confident with their retirement prospects plan to see an adviser in the coming year versus just 11 per cent of those who are not confident.
Retirees on an annual household income exceeding $70,000 are twice as likely to see a planner as those on less than $30,000.
Respondents who were university educated and married were more prosperous in retirement and more likely to see a planner.
“Almost everyone will improve their retirement prospects by taking good financial advice and by starting to save and invest sooner,” Citibank head of investments Andrew de Vries said.
