Plan Tomorrow Today

SURVEY SAVVY

f your clients’ personal savings accounts aren’t increasing fast enough to provide a lucrative retirement, you might suggest they switch to equities. Nearly 57 million U.S. households owned stock directly or through mutual funds—three times the number that did two decades ago, according to a survey by the Investment Industry Association and the Securities Industry Association. Even though this growth was primarily through employer-provided retirement plans, three-quarters of those surveyed owned individual stocks outside of these plans and used professional financial advisers.