To help the industry come to grips with this conundrum, the Deloitte Center for Financial Services conducted a survey among nearly 4,500 consumers from a wide range of age and income groups. Our goal was to generate insights into how financial institutions might develop new approaches and solutions by better understanding the attitudinal and behavioral constraints preventing consumers from taking more firm control of their retirement destiny.

We did a deep dive into the problems facing the majority of respondents—58 percent—who do not have a formal retirement savings and income plan in place. This planning gap widened the further the respondent was from their expected retirement date—rising to 70 percent among those who don't expect to leave the work force for 15 years or more.

The survey found that planning for retirement makes a big difference in the confidence level of consumers, as respondents with a formal plan to generate retirement savings and income were four times more likely to feel very secure (52 percent) about their retirement compared to those without a formal plan (only 13 percent).

In addition, Deloitte's survey suggests that there is a relationship between the use of professional advisors and feelings about retirement security. Indeed, the survey found that 40 percent of those using financial advisors felt very secure about their retirement, versus only 22 percent of those who do not seek professional advice. Meanwhile, 66 percent of respondents with a financial advisor had a formal plan for retirement savings and income, versus only 28 percent of those without an advisor.

The survey identified a number of reasons why inertia on retirement planning persists despite extensive efforts by insurers and annuity companies, as well as banks, mutual funds and brokerage firms, to help consumers address this challenge and enhance their retirement security.

Analysis of the survey data revealed five main barriers inhibiting many Americans from taking a more disciplined approach to setting retirement goals, and putting in place the required mechanisms to achieve a secure future. These interconnected barriers are:

1). Conflicting priorities: While retirement is a leading concern for a majority of the survey respondents, many cited difficulty balancing such long-term needs with other, often more immediate financial priorities.

2). A failure to communicate: Financial institutions often do not effectively reach those who may need retirement planning advice and solutions, particularly via the workplace. And even when they do, they don't necessarily address such needs as part of a broader financial plan taking into account other priorities.

3). A lack of product awareness: Many consumers are simply not familiar with a number of retirement product options at their disposal.

4). Mistrust in financial institutions and intermediaries: A significant number of individuals do not have a high degree of trust in anyone working for the financial services industry, whether in offering objective advice or delivering on what they promise when it comes to filling a consumer's retirement needs.

5). A “Do-It-Myself” mentality: A significant segment of consumers either don't want, or feel they don't need professional advice in retirement planning. For many, this might be a short-sighted decision, given the complexity of retirement finances, the lack of awareness about the product options available, and the potential value an advisor could offer.

Potentially, many of these barriers could be overcome by adopting a more holistic approach, in which retirement needs are accounted for early in a customer's lifecycle and in conjunction with other financial priorities. Changing the mindset of both consumers and retirement services providers to encourage a more integrated planning discipline is a very important step in resolving the retirement dilemma.

But this is not the only step needed to make consumers feel more secure about their retirement. There are other initiatives financial institutions and their intermediaries might consider to help them overcome the lack of trust and dearth of product familiarity among many consumers, while perhaps prompting more of those with a “do-it-myself” mentality to reconsider and seek professional advice.

In future columns over the course of the year, we'll more closely examine the barriers listed above, and suggest how the industry's operating models and marketing approaches might need to evolve so that insurance agents and their carriers can more effectively reach and serve consumers in tackling their retirement needs.

In the meantime, a full report on the survey results and their implications can be accessed with this link.