Our motto: “We help people sleep at night.”

Why? Because the stress of wondering whether your investments will allow you to make it through retirement without going broke is the number one worry for retired people -and also people who have started their retirement planning.

Well-known pollster Frank Luntz was commissioned by an associated company of Covell & Covell to find out what people are specifically concerned about when it comes to their retirement. Over 800 retired or soon to retire people were asked to rank 20 concerns from most concerned to least concerned. In some ways the responses were surprising. Here’s the question Frank asked:

The top question that 43% of the respondents asked themselves was:

“Will I run out of money in retirement?”

40% of the respondents put this question at the top of their list:

“Will I be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement?”

These questions may seem to be about the same, but there is a subtle difference between them. The top question implies that the person is afraid of going broke during retirement. The second most asked question implies that the person is not so much afraid of going broke as they are of being forced to cut back on the lifestyle they hope to have.

The third most asked question is “Will I be able to afford the healthcare I need?” This ranking of the #3 most asked question at 35% reflects the world today in which all of us question what will happen to the cost of healthcare. It is of more concern to those planning for retirement because into the healthcare mix goes long term care expenses. The cost of long term care (nursing home or in-home care), is not covered by existing health plans. Not private plans and not Medicare. Medicaid can cover some of these expenses, but Medicaid is a welfare program and you must be impoverished to qualify. In other words, the top worry -“Will I run out of money in retirement?” almost has to come true before Medicaid will step in for long term care expenses.

The surprising part of the responses were how low ranked some of the questions people considered a number one question they asked themselves. For example, only 13% asked themselves “Will I be able to leave anything behind to the ones I love?” A mere 4% asked themselves “Will my children or grandchildren go through their inheritance too quickly?”

This was a bit surprising to financial planners who spent a good deal of time talking about stretching IRAs and making sure that the next generation was left a legacy. Are these important considerations? Of course they are. But the real concern of those about to retire is geared almost totally on making sure retirement is a successful proposition. That is the focus of Covell & Covell.

And it isn’t just the financial worries that keep people up at night. There are also all the estate planning issues that people know they need to handle, but just don’t seem to be able to find the time. We have prepared thousands of wills and trusts for our clients. More often than not, we get a big thank you afterwards with an explanation like “I am so glad we finally got this out of the way.”