Salt Lake City, UT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/13/2008 -- NSON Opinion Research, a leading provider of research services to the market research industry, today announced the results of a telephone omnibus survey conducted in January 2008 that investigated the extent to which people over the age of 40 use financial planners. The telephone survey was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Les Harris, a noted baby-boomer marketing specialist and president of Mature Marketing.

The random telephone study asked 570 people who were 40 years old or older what type of financial planning assistance, if any, they used. Over 60% of all respondents said they do not use stockbrokers, accountants or any other financial consultants to assist them with their financial planning activities. The study found that 65% of all male respondents and 57% of all female respondents interviewed said that they do not use financial planners.

The study showed that only 19% of all males and 26% of all females who were interviewed said they do use some kind of financial planning assistance.

The study did reveal that people in the age group from 55 to 64 are using financial consultants more than people in younger or older age brackets. Based on this study, it seems that people in the age bracket immediately prior to retirement age are more likely to obtain outside financial planning assistance than people in other age groups.

Methodology:

A computer-aided-telephone survey was conducted. People over the age of 40 within the general population of the United States were contacted using Random Digit Dialing. NSON gave special consideration to see that the respondent population was balanced on gender, age and geographic lines. The aim of this study was to capture information from a random population of older adults about their use or non-use of financial consultants to assist with their financial affairs..

Sample:

The sample was well balanced in terms of age and geographic distribution. NSON pulled the sample along the four primary Census region breakdown areas, which were Northeast (29%), West (22%), Midwest (23%) and South (26%). Moreover, the sample was evenly distributed among standard age brackets.

There was a 5% margin of error.

About NSON Opinion Research:
NSON Opinion Research, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a leading provider of professional research services and research data to the market research industry. Founded in 1992, NSON research services are used by hundreds of companies worldwide. For more information, please visit our Website, http://www.NSONinfo.com or call us at 801-983-6766.

If you would like to add a question to our next omnibus survey or if you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with RTNielson, please call Karl Pace at 801-994-0321 or email Karl at KarlPace@NSONinfo.com.

Dr. Les Harris can be reached by telephone at 201-836-7486 or by email at mmrHarris@aol.com. His website is http://www.maturemarketing.com.

Dr. Harris has published two books that focus on marketing to baby boomers:

“After Fifty: Marketing Strategies” and “After Sixty: Marketing to Baby Boomers Reaching Their BIG Transition Years”. Both books are available at Paramount Books at http://www.paramountbooks.com.