Capstrat Survey: Investors Trust Financial Pros More Than Online Options

Easy access to financial advice through the Internet has not diminished U.S. investors’ reliance on traditional financial professionals for help with money management, according to a national Capstrat-Public Policy Polling survey released Wednesday, July 21. The results of the survey come in the wake of a global collapse that tarnished major brand names in the financial world, Capstrat said in a statement.

Some two-thirds of survey respondents rated certified public accountants (CPAs) four or five on a five-point scale of reliability. Just over half put banks and financial advisors next in reliability, the former just nosing out the latter.

Only 4% of respondents considered online forums as their “most influential” source of financial advice. This compared with 23% who looked to financial advisors, 17% to banks and 15% to CPAs.

Millennials (respondents aged 18 to 29) are much more likely to look for financial advice online, with 43% in this segment saying they used online forums and 48% designating Google as their most influential financial advisor. In contrast, 10% of respondents older than 65 said they sought financial advice from online forums and a mere 6% considered Google to be most influential.

Women have a much more favorable attitude toward banks than men do. Fifty-nine percent of women respondents consider banks reliable sources of financial information, compared with 43% of men, and 57% said they had used a bank recently, compared with 37% of men who said they had done so. Twenty-two percent of women said they considered banks “most influential,” versus 12% of men, whereas 28% of men said they were most influenced by financial advisors, compared with 19% of women.

Other survey findings: