42% of women look to family for financial advice, compared to 27% of men

  • 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%

 

 

 

  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.