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December 13, 2018 at 10:39 PM
U.S. adults are not enamored of financial planning — at least, not most of them — although they regard it as something that needs to be done, like a medical checkup.
So says new research from Northwestern Mutual, which also found that while 40% of Americans say it’s necessary but not their favorite, another 40% actually have a range of negative emotions about planning.
The 2018 Planning & Progress Study enumerated those negative emotions as “worried, nervous about confronting the financial details of my life (17%)”; “prefer to not deal with it until I absolutely have no choice (9%)”; “frustrated, annoyed with my financial situation (9%)”; and “skeptical about the value of planning (5%).”
A surprising 18%, however, say they are “excited and inspired, love to do it.”
And 70% say their financial planning needs improvement.
That shows when they respond to the question of what type of financial planner they are, with the single most common answer being “informal.” While 16% say they’re “highly disciplined” — they know their goals, have a plan to meet them and rarely stray from the plan — they’re in the minority, but so are the 14% who say they are “not a planner” and have established no goals at all.
