More than ever, people are seeking professional advice on saving money for their retirement.

TIAA-CREF, an organization that provides national financial services, conducted its second annual Financial Advice Survey and recently released the results which shines a light on the financial advice industry.

The survey shows that 53 percent of Americans sought financial advice in 2012, as opposed to 63 percent in 2013. Almost half of those surveyed said that they found it difficult to meet a trustworthy advisor.

Time and money also play an important part in seeking financial advice, as 40 percent feel that they cannot afford the rates requested by advisors and 30 percent claim they have no time.

Financial advice is a very unique type of service. People need to feel like they can trust the relationship, so customer service skills are very important in this line of work.

Different demographic groups seek advice for different reasons. Those aged 35 to 44 sought guidance on how to prepare adequately for retirement, while most of those between ages 18 and 34 have no plan whatsoever in place for retirement and feel that they do not have enough information to begin planning for their later years.

The survey also found women to be less confident than men when it comes to saving money for retirement: 56 percent of women feel that they are confident with the amount they are saving, as opposed to 65 percent of men. Women tend to rely more on friends and family to give them financial advice, whereas men are happy to utilize online tools and financial service websites.

Survey results indicated that 87 percent of participants between ages 55 and 64 feel that they are adequately informed about retirement and the options available to them. This group is also far more likely to act on the advice they are given by financial advisors. While this data was related to investors in the US, there are implications for the Canadian market place as well.