Wachovia Corp. said it plans to use its bankers sell retirement products to people who are not preparing properly for retirement.
Most of them would not use a financial adviser but would feel comfortable working with a banker, said Bob Reid, an executive vice president in the Charlotte company’s retirement strategy unit.
Twenty-seven percent of consumers are “peak performers” — unworried by retirement and apparently on the right track in their planning — according to a survey Wachovia released Tuesday.
But Mr. Reid said Wednesday that the most promising prospects are the rest of the population. That includes the 26% who are confident about their planning but may be mistaken, because they lack a savings strategy or are saving less in 401(k) plans and IRAs than those who are truly well prepared.
It also includes the nearly half of respondents who expressed concern about retirement — the 36% who said they may not be doing enough to prepare and the 11% who said they seem to be on the right track but are still worried.
Surveys like Wachovia’s, in which 2,100 people nationwide were questioned, raise awareness of what investors need to do to prepare themselves for retirement, Mr. Reid said.
“Banks are positioned to reach these people,” he said. “The good news is a lot of people are aware that they need to prepare.”
Wachovia has $66 billion of 401(k) and pension plan assets under advisement. It also manages $125 billion of individual retirement account assets.
“We have good touch in a lot of aspects of the retirement world,” Mr. Reid said. “We expect that those assets will continue to grow.”
