Use of Financial Planners by U.S. Households

Abstract

We examine the use of financial planners by U.S. households using data from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances and find that over one-fifth (21.2%) of households use financial planners. A small portion of households (2.7%) obtain advice from financial planners on only credit or borrowing, whereas 11.5% look for recommendations on only saving or investing issues, and 7.0% obtain comprehensive advice (i.e., credit or borrowing and saving or investing). The use of financial planners by households varies by financial and sociodemographic characteristics of the household, and the effects of these characteristics vary by category of use (i.e., credit/borrowing only, saving/investing only, comprehensive advice).