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Administration July 13, 2010
Some Say Financial Planners More Important Since Financial Crisis
July 13, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new national opinion poll conducted for Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards finds nearly two out of three Americans (65%) are more concerned about their finances today than they were at the beginning of the financial crisis two years ago.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
More than two out of five Americans (43%) say financial planners are now “more important in the last two years since the start of the financial crisis,” compared to about a third (36%) who see no change, and 14% who now see planners as being “less important.” Overall use of financial planners by Americans has remained almost unchanged during the first two years of the U.S. financial crisis – starting at 29% compared to 28% today, according to a press release.
Of those who have started using a financial planner since the start of the financial crisis, nearly a third (31%) say they have done so because “I felt like I needed more financial guidance during these difficult times for investors.” However, a bigger percentage of those in this group (44%) said they have started using a financial planner during the last two years for reasons “unrelated to the financial crisis.”
The survey also found almost two thirds of Americans (64%) say they are “very” or “somewhat” financially prepared for the future. The top three financial planning issues for Americans are retirement goals and planning (30%), education funding (25%), and savings goals and planning (23%).
Other survey findings, according to the press release, include:
- More than a third of Americans (37%) expect to see their personal finances improve in the next six months, versus less than half (46%) who expect to hold onto what they currently have, and 16% who expect to lose money.
- 80% of Americans say that Congress and regulators have not done enough “to deal with the financial market problems and their impact on American investors.”
- 44% of Americans expect the U.S. economy to improve in the next six months, while only 28% expect things to get worse. A smaller group (22%) anticipates no change in the economy.
- When asked to describe how they feel about their personal finances, the numbe one response from Americans was “cautious” (33%), followed by “calm” (26%), “concerned” (25%) and “hopeful” (25%). (Multiple responses were permitted to this question.)
- 38% of whites expect the economy to improve, compared to 51% of Hispanics and 74% of African Americans.