Lance R. Howard
CSA
Howard & Associates Estate and Retirement Planning
Bakersfield, Calif.

1. What is your primary advisory specialty, or the focus of your practice?
Advisory services include a conservative to moderate approach as many of our clients are in or near retirement. Strategies include downside protection, producing solid income without tremendous risk and tax advantages during a client’s lifetime and at death.

2. What are the biggest challenges facing you in this market, and how are you addressing them?
Regulations, investors’ perceptions, volatile markets and indecision: I recently obtained my Series 65 which takes care of regulations and changes how investors perceive me. My own perception has changed; therefore my prospects look at me in a different and more positive way. Volatile markets and indecision are things we all face, however my approach lets my clients truly feel it is about them and not the money.

3. What led you to focus on the senior market?
Knowing how desperately this age group needs help from someone who cares about them. This group has worked very hard to accumulate their assets and they appreciate honest, integrity and personalized attention.

4. What is the best advice you would give to other advisors?
Put yourself in your clients’ shoes and only do for them what you would do for yourself or your family. Become the most, well-rounded advisor possible and don’t walk away after the sale. Continue to provide service above and beyond your competition.

A recent study by an Allianz Group research team reveals how the recent economic turmoil and plunge in household wealth is affecting consumer habits.

The research showed that the spike in savings rates, which recently hit 6 percent, could prove to be a permanent shift in Americans’ behavior.

Such a sea change in consumer habits could correlate to an increase in the need for guaranteed and safe-savings solutions, as Americans become more leery of risky investments.

Allianz estimates that $700 billion in U.S. savings could be amassed in the next 10 years. This would come as a reaction to the unprecedented drop in net worth from mid-2007 to early 2009. At its worst, the collapsing real estate and stock markets erased almost $17.5 trillion in household wealth.

“We have witnessed a surge in the saving rate since early 2008, up to an average of 4.6% in 2009,” said Michael Heise, an economist at Allianz. “We anticipate that products such as mutual funds, annuities and equities will benefit from this change.”

After a slow start to 2009, purchases of financial assets are set to climb to an estimated $700-800 billion annually. This compares to the average of nearly $900 billion for the boom years of 2003 to 2007.

“One [lesson] from the financial crisis is that it’s not just about asset allocation, but asset location. There is a definite need for financial products that offer guaranteed lifetime income and which we view as the emerging fifth asset class,” said Allianz Life Insurance president Gary Bhojwani. “It goes beyond saving for retirement; it’s about planning how we want to live once we do retire.”