Cover Magazine – 11 Jun 2019, by Sophie King. Quote from Openwork.
Almost two-thirds of women do not know where to go for financial advice, survey finds.
Two-in-five (43%) UK adults do not know how to access financial advice, with women more likely than men to not know where to go.
The Consumer Intelligence surveyed 1,014 people behalf of advice giant Openwork and found almost two-thirds (62%) of women did not know where to go for financial advice. This is compared to the 38% of men who said they did not know where to get financial advice.
Elsewhere, the research also found a quarter (26%) of people had not started saving for retirement. Close to half (42%) of those surveyed said they do not plan to start saving for retirement until they are aged 55 and over.
Around 20% of people polled feared they will never be able to afford to stop work, while the same portion of people said they have set a target date for retirement. A third (32%) said they believe they will be able to retire by their target date.
In terms of the advice people want, some three quarters (73%) said they would rather have face to face financial advice, rather than robo-advice. Openwork also found a similar proportion said they were concerned that so called robo-advice might not be appropriate for their specific needs.
‘Unmet demand’
Openwork director of learning and acquisition Claire Limon said the firm is of the opinion face-to-face advice should be “readily accessible to all”.
“We commissioned the research to check our understanding of people’s attitudes to financial planning so that we can identify and start to break down the barriers that stop so many people seeking it,” she said.
“There is already massive unmet demand for face-to-face advice and we want more advisers to join us and more people to start a career in financial planning with us.”
She added: “People are increasingly recognising the value of expert financial advice, but it’s worrying that they still aren’t sure about the best way to access it.”
Full article here.
