- Men are much more likely to go to money advice websites or financial advisers
- Financial advisers most often used for retirement planning
- Men much more likely to seek support with wealth and inheritance planning than women
Women are much more likely to look to their family for financial advice compared to any other source such as seeking professional financial advice or looking to government websites.
A survey of 3,000 people by Canada Life1 has revealed that 42% of women will go to their family for financial advice, followed by money advice websites (35%), financial advisers (27%), friends and colleagues (23%) and government websites or helplines (20%). In contrast, men are much less likely to go to family for advice (27%), preferring to go to money advice websites (35%) or financial advisers (30%).
When we asked those with a financial adviser what they were seeking advice on, the most common response amongst men and women was ‘retirement or pension planning’ at 50% and 42% respectively. For women this was followed by ‘finding investments’ (35%) and finding a mortgage (34%). ‘Finding investments’ also came second for men at 47%, however this was followed by ‘wealth and inheritance planning’ for 38% of men (compared to 27% of women).
Lara Bealing, marketing director at Canada Life comments:
“The financial advice profession should take the positives from the survey as they feature highly as a source of advice by both women and men. However, there are also key questions to be asked about how the advice and wider financial services industry can work together to make financial advice more accessible and inclusive. Personal finance can be incredibly complicated, and a financial adviser will always be best placed to help navigate life’s up and downs and help ensure we all reach our goals.”
|
Top five financial advice sources for women |
||
|
1 |
Family |
42% |
|
2 |
Money advice websites |
35% |
|
3 |
Financial advisers |
27% |
|
4 |
Friends/ colleagues |
23% |
|
5 |
Government websites or helplines |
20% |
|
Top five financial advice sources for men |
||
|
1 |
Money advice websites |
35% |
|
2 |
Financial advisers |
30% |
|
3 |
Family |
27% |
|
4 |
Government websites or helplines |
20% |
|
- |
Friends/ colleagues |
20% |
|
- |
None of these |
20% |
|
5 |
Companies via their websites |
16% |
|
Q. What do you use your financial adviser for? |
Women |
Men |
|
Retirement or pension planning |
42% |
50% |
|
Wealth and inheritance planning |
27% |
38% |
|
Finding investments |
35% |
47% |
|
Finding a mortgage |
34% |
25% |
|
Achieving specific financial goals |
27% |
37% |
|
Tax planning |
35% |
47% |
|
Life coaching / planning |
15% |
16% |
|
Finding life insurance, critical illness or income protection products |
25% |
25% |
|
Later-life and care planning |
20% |
19% |
|
Other |
1% |
1% |
- Source: The research was conducted in partnership with Savanta and encompassed three phases:
- An consumer online qualitative community conducted for seven days in June with 24 consumers. Each day different topics were covered via written commentary, videos and polling, along with some group discussions
- 15 interviews with industry experts (advisers, investment banks and institutional pension decision makers) between the 5th & 30th July. Each interview lasted between 45-60 minutes.
- An online survey of 3000 consumers running from 27th July to 12th August.