Millionaires plan to retire in their 50s

Most of Florida’s millionaires expect to retire before they turn 60, a new poll shows.

Fifty-two percent of Floridians with at least $1 million in stocks, bonds, cash and other investable assets expect to retire at an average age of 59, according to the study by BMO Private Bank.

Nationwide, the wealthy expect to retire even sooner — at an average age of 56, the study found. That compared with age 62 for Americans overall, according to a Gallup poll last year.

Gallup sampled 1,026 Americans 18 and older, with a margin of error of 4 percent. BMO Private Bank surveyed 62 of Florida’s 358,191 millionaires and 482 people nationwide, with a 4.5 percent margin of error.

Nearly nine of 10 surveyed in Florida plan to use their wealth to help fund their retirement, the survey found.

Five percent consider themselves aggressive investors, with 73 percent calling themselves balanced investors who have a mixture of stocks, bonds and cash, the survey found. Twenty percent said they’re conservative investors.

“Having lived and worked through the recession, we’re seeing tomorrow’s retirees step back and re-evaluate the need for risk,” said Jack Ablin, BMO Private Bank’s chief investment officer. “They want to retire younger and do more, so they aren’t willing to compromise their retirement income on risky investments.”