Why are Australians who get financial advice more upbeat?
Money doesn’t buy happiness, but having a financial adviser by your side just might.
New research from CFS shows that Australians who receive financial advice feel more confident and optimistic about their money than those who go it alone. And contrary to popular belief, it’s not necessarily because they’re earning more.*
Colonial First State commissioned research to find out about Australians’ understanding of super and investments, and how confident they felt about their money. The survey generated responses from almost 2,000 Australians who have a financial adviser and 700 who haven’t had professional financial advice.
The research looked at people with the same levels of wealth and household income and found almost 70% of those with a financial adviser felt positive about their current financial position. This is compared to only 45% of those who didn’t seek advice.
How can financial advice change your outlook?
Of those who received financial advice, 67% said they were confident in making decisions about their super savings, compared to just 40% who’d never received advice.
Advised Australians also felt they had a decent understanding when it came to investments, with 57% saying they had very good or excellent knowledge. Less than one in three unadvised Australians were able to say the same.
Those with an adviser were also more open to taking investment risk with their savings (64%) compared to 38% of unadvised Australians.
Does advice promote better quality of life regardless of wealth or income?
According to research commissioned by the Financial Advice Association of Australia (FAAA), yes!
The association surveyed more than 1,000 advised and non-advised people and found that regardless of someone’s wealth or age, advice promoted and enabled a better quality of life^.
At the top of the list of benefits was greater confidence in having a comfortable retirement, followed by an improved sense of financial wellbeing^.
The FAAA said with the cost of financial advice looming large for many Australians, findings showed that those who received financial advice thought it was worth every cent^.
What is the biggest financial concern for Australians currently?
Unsurprisingly, the increasing cost of living was identified in the CFS research as the greatest financial concern for most Australians.
This was true regardless of whether they received financial advice or not, as three quarters of both advised and unadvised Australians admitted to feeling ‘very concerned’ or ‘extremely concerned’ about the cost of living.
Last month, we wrote an article about more Australians under the age of 40 being open to financial advice but many believing they probably couldn’t afford it.
In this article we covered what a financial adviser does, what you can get advice about, what it costs and if it’s worth the money. Read the article if you’d also like answers to those questions.
* CFS commissioned research - September 2023. More than 2,500 advised and non-advised participants.
^ FAAA - Value of Advice index – October 2022
Source: Colonial First State