Nearly half (40 per cent) of financial advisers’ retiring clients’ pension assets are invested in multi-asset strategies, the most popular investment strategy by a “comfortable margin”, according to Aegon.

Its research found that equity growth was the second most popular strategy, with 15 per cent of retiring clients’ pension assets, followed by equity income and fixed income, both at 11 per cent.

Despite favourable rates and the potential stability they can offer in a volatile market, only 10 per cent of clients’ pension assets were invested in annuities.

In its analysis of financial advisers, Aegon found that 31 per cent said their clients were choosing to retire later than they had initially planned.

Running out of money in retirement was identified as the most commonly cited concern, with 77 per cent of advisers stating this was a challenge faced by their retiring clients.

Difficulty when planning how much income they may need in retirement was second amongst common concerns, with 63 per cent of advisers saying their clients felt this way.

Commenting on the findings, Aegon managing director, investment proposition, Lorna Blyth, said: “Given the economic challenges of the past few years, more people taking the decision to earn for longer and retire later shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.

“However, as we’ll explore in more detail in the upcoming second edition of our Second 50 report, it’s important that both clients and advisers recognise that stopping work at a later date, but living longer on average, doesn’t necessarily mean fewer years of retirement to fund and plan for.

“When it comes to building pension assets, the flexibility and risk-rated options afforded by multi-asset strategies could be incredibly valuable for a growing number of clients who are adopting new patterns of work and retirement.

“It’s understandable that advisers continue to make use of them in the best interests of their clients, despite annuities becoming more attractive during the recent economic challenges.”

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