Keeping Your Money yours.

A comfortable retirement is their leading financial objective, say respondents to a Chief Executive/Wilmington Trust survey. Those who rely on professional assistance are more confident that they will achieve all of their financial goals.

Becoming a CEO is generally the capstone of an executive's career, so there can be a sense of urgency to making that enhanced earning power work as hard as possible during the CEO's tenure. Preparation for the retirement years is often the most pressing objective.

As in business, personal financial success is achieved by establishing and meeting financial goals. Careful planning, execution, and the ability to adapt to change are all required. Professional assistance brings both technical expertise and an outside perspective. In fact, of the 527 Chief Executive readers who responded to a Chief Executive/Wilmington Trust survey, those who are "heavy" or "fairly heavy" users of professional financial assistance are more confident of reaching their financial goals overall than those who are not. That confidence becomes important for the 60 percent of respondents who plan to retire in less than 10 years--especially the full third of them who have less than three years to go.

Given the ages of our respondents, retirement is a very real issue. Nearly one-quarter of them (22 percent) are over 65, with 19 percent between 60 and 65, and 35 percent between 50 and 59. Only 4 percent are under 40. Seventy percent of them work for private companies. In terms of annual revenue, 41 percent run companies of under $50 million, 40 percent in the $50-499 million range, 7 percent in the $500 million to $1 billion range, and 9 percent over $1 billion.

What readers said

* Retirement savings, family protection in the event of death or disability, and building a sizable portfolio were the top three financial goals (see chart). Interestingly, though, emphases can change considerably, based in part on the number of years until retirement. For example, 72 percent of respondents who will retire in less than 10 years mentioned retirement savings as a major concern, versus 57 percent who will retire in more than 10 years. Older respondents also are more concerned about amassing a sizable portfolio (34 percent vs. 27 percent) and leaving an estate for their heirs (13 percent vs. 5 percent). Conversely, the younger respondents are much more concerned about paying for children's education (38 percent vs. 9 percent), probably because college costs are staring them right in the face.

* Having had more time to accumulate wealth, those respondents who are retiring in less than 10 years generally expressed greater confidence in reaching their goals: retirement savings (62 percent/39 percent), family protection (67 percent/64 percent), sizable portfolio (46 percent/27 percent), children's education (54 percent/50 percent), minimize taxes (20 percent/22 percent), leave an estate (50 percent/32 percent).

* Respondents use a variety of investment techniques to build their retirement income: employer-sponsored qualified plans (85 percent), IRAs (77 percent), personal brokerage accounts (77 percent), personal savings accounts (66 percent), tax-deferred investments (56 percent), and employer-sponsored non-qualified plans (35 percent).

* 78 percent also use IRAs and 401(k) contributions as a means of minimizing taxes.

* About half (48 percent) estimate that their retirement needs will remain comparable to current income levels, while 40 percent anticipate needing less, and 9 percent say they will need more.

* Employer-sponsored retirement plans are no longer estimated to fuel the bulk of the retirement nest egg for most respondents, with about more than one-half (55 percent) saying it will cover less than 40 percent of needed income. Accounting for most of the retirement income balance will be personal savings (94 percent), social security (81 percent), IRAs (71 percent), tax-deferred investments (42 percent), and inheritance (12 percent).

* Respondents are very concerned about family protection, and are utilizing multiple methods: individual life insurance (79 percent), employer sponsored life insurance and disability plans (71 percent), social security (66 percent), investment portfolio (58 percent), disability insurance (52 percent), and personal trusts (40 percent).

* However, they are not as aggressive in using some wealth-transitioning methods that are often overlooked: life insurance (60 percent), irrevocable trusts (36 percent), revocable trusts (34 percent), family limited partnerships (17 percent), and charitable trusts (15 percent). Eighteen percent are not using any of these methods.

* Similarly, many may not be minimizing taxes as much as they could be: IRA/401(k) contributions (78 percent), professional planning/tax advice (59 percent), maximum deductions, below the line (57 percent), offsetting capital gains with losses (49 percent), tax-deferred investments (46 percent), maximizing AGI (45 percent), municipal/other government bonds (40 percent), and minimizing/deferring ordinary income (28 percent).

OF THE 527 CE readers who responded to a Chief Executive/Wilmington Trust survey, 60 percent intend to retire in less than 10 years. Here's what they're doing to get ready--and how they feel about it.

                  RETIREMENT IS ON THE HORIZON FOR 3 IN 5
                  RESPONDENTS -- AND IMMINENT FOR 1 IN 5:
[less than]3 years 20%
3-5 years          21%
6-9 years          19%
                 SO PLANNING FOR A COMFORTABLE RETIREMENT
                    LED THEIR LIST OF FINANCIAL GOALS:
Retirement           64%
Family protection    45%
Sizable portfolio    32%
Children's education 17%
Minimize taxes       16%
Leave an estate      11%
                   BUT, ON AVERAGE, CEO'S CONFIDENCE IN
                       MEETING THOSE GOALS IS MIXED:
Retirement           55%
Family protection    66%
Sizable portfolio    39%
Children's education 53%
Minimize taxes       20%
Leave an estate      45%
                     FEWER THAN HALF RELY STRONGLY ON
               PROFESSIONALS TO HELP THEM MEET THEIR GOALS:
Heavily/fairly heavily 41%
Somewhat               38%
Not much/at all        20%
                 BUT THOSE WHO DO ARE MORE CONFIDENT THAN
                THE AVERAGE CEO ABOUT MEETING THEIR GOALS:
Retirement           63%
Family protection    71%
Sizable portfolio    45%
Children's education 53%
Minimize taxes       23%
Leave an estate      52%