Clients are at risk of falling short of their financial goals because of the lack of willingness to save, a recent survey by Russell Investments reveals.

Citing the responses of US-based financial advisors, the survey shows that the key reason why customers are considered to be at risk is because most of them are not willing to save enough (24 per cent). This was seconded by clients 'not having enough money', 22 per cent.

Forty-four per cent of advisors considered up to 25 per cent of their client base to be at 'significant risk,' while 36 per cent considered nearly 50 per cent of their customers to be so.

"It all comes down to one word: discipline," said Michael Wells, an advisor from Moors & Cabot.

"In today's environment, it is important to focus on what you can control as an investor, such as your savings rate, and be cautiously prudent with the things you can't control, such as markets," added Phill Rogerson, the managing director of consulting services for Russell's Private Client Services unit.

The survey also showed that noticeably fewer advisors were 'unsure' about their plans to shift allocations across different asset classes: 33 per cent said they planned to increase allocations, while 27 per cent said they would decrease them. Equities and real estate emerged as the top choices for those planning to spread out.

The effect of the tightening regulatory climate was also reflected on the responses, with half saying that will be more cautious about recommending leveraged exchange traded funds and nearly 31 per cent taking a careful stance over equity-indexed annuities. As regards practice management, 62 per cent said they would seek the advice of compliance officers on regulatory changes, 48 per cent said they would reassess clients' situations, risk tolerances and goals, and 40 per cent said they would explain changes to clients.

"An increasing allocation to U.S. value equity at this time could be perceived as a flight to quality amid recent global volatility because, despite the havoc the economic events of the past couple of years have wreaked on the US economy and its future prospects, the United States remains the dominant economy today," commented Rogerson.