Nearly 40% of Americans surveyed in a Creditcards.com poll said “friends and family” are their top resource for receiving financial advice, and almost one third 鈥� 31% 鈥� said they get no financial advice at all.
Generation Z, the youngest demographic group that was born after 1996, said in the poll that they used friends and family the most at 53%, while 28% of their financial advice comes from social media platforms and influencers.
鈥淪ometimes that advice might be really good. Sometimes it might be really bad,” Creditcards.com senior industry analyst Ted Rossman told WTOP’s Bruce Alan.
“They may be good people, but there鈥檚 a good chance they don鈥檛 know much about managing money,鈥� .
Overall, U.S. adults turned to financial websites 25%, financial advisers 24% and financial institutions 24% for their financial advice.
Significantly fewer people 鈥� 13% to 14% 鈥� used social media platforms or influencers, newspapers or magazines, books, podcasts, radio or TV for their financial advice.
But Rossman said financial advisers can be costly, and not everyone can afford to use them.
He pointed to early schooling as a potential source for personal finance education, but said not enough people are receiving it.
鈥淭here鈥檚 only about half of states that have a stand-alone personal finance course mandated,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hile some other states require that it鈥檚 baked into the K-12 curriculum, most people are not getting a lot of finance education at school or at home. Most people would put themselves in the self-taught category.鈥�
One of the starkest findings in the poll is that 42% of the respondents in the lowest-income bracket said they don鈥檛 get any financial advice at all, compared to 30% of middle-income earners and 14% of highest-income earners.
鈥淲hat was most troubling to me was that one in three Americans are not getting any financial advice at all.鈥� Rossman said. 鈥淲ith little formal personal finance education, most people are forced to go it alone.”
Financial advisers and financial institutions were viewed in the poll as the most trustworthy source for advice, ranking 70% and 69% respectively. Friends and family were almost as high at 64%. Books came in at 60% and financial websites fared well at 57%.
“Not everybody needs a financial adviser,” Rossman said. “Especially a lot of younger adults are finding they can go at it on their own or get some help from a robo adviser. Ultimately it鈥檚 kind of 鈥� to each their own. Typically the older you are the more complicated your financial situation, then you are more likely to have a financial adviser.”
Social media platforms were viewed the least trustworthy. Only 21% of respondents trust them as sources of financial advice.
Rossman said the most important aspect of financial advice is how people use the information.
鈥淲hile social media in general ranked at the bottom of the trust meter of all the things we asked about, I would stress there鈥檚 no single medium particularly good or bad at giving financial advice,鈥� Rossman said. 鈥淯ltimately it really depends more on your circumstances and how you use that information.鈥�
WTOP’s Bruce Alan contributed to this story.
