Investor confidence remains low, but the upshot for advisors of The Hartford’s Fourth Annual Investments and Retirement Study is that this means more people are looking for professional help.

The study revealed three main trends, Jim Davey, executive vice president and director of Hartford’s investments and retirement division, said Thursday during his presentation of the survey results in New York City. First, many people’s feelings of financial security have taken a beating, which is no surprise to anyone given market conditions. Second, traditional thinking about a fantasy retirement of golf and luxury vacations has been replaced by a back-to-basics analysis of what lifetime income might cost. And third, most investors now see the need for professional financial advice.

“One thing that came out of the study was the need for a financial plan,” Davey said. “Seventy-five percent of planners [people with financial plans in place] are still confident they’re on track, compared to 60% of non-planners [people without financial plans] who don’t think they have enough to retire.”

The market meltdown hasn’t been easy on anyone, John Diehl, senior vice president at The Hartford, added. However, if people are now thinking practically about challenges related to longevity risk, inflation and healthcare costs; that can only be a good thing. “It’s so much better for people to think about these things now rather than find themselves in the situation later on when they have few alternatives,” Diehl said. The need for up to 30 years of income means that retirement—for many people—will actually be a combination of accumulated retirement assets and Social Security supplemented by part-time work, Diehl said.

 The Hartford polled 751 Americans age 45 or older for the survey on attitudes to retirement.