Gallup and Edward Jones asked 5,075 U.S. adults aged 21 and older, from March 20 to April 6, where they went for money guidance during the past year. Among those who looked for help, 73% did their own internet research, 32% saw a professional financial advisor, and 18% used AI tools.
Confidence in those sources told a different story. Among all adults, 79% have at least some confidence in financial advisors’ expertise. For artificial intelligence, no more than 3 in 10 do, and only 3% have a great deal.
Age changes who gets asked
Among guidance seekers, about 1 in 4 Gen Z adults and millennials used AI, compared with 7% of baby boomers. Advisors run the other way: 14% of Gen Z seekers saw one, against 55% of baby boomers.
Trust follows the same line. Some 36% of millennials have at least some confidence in AI’s money expertise, while 15% of baby boomers do.
What the financially fulfilled group did differently
Gallup sorted respondents into financially stressed, conflicted and fulfilled. Among the fulfilled, 60% of guidance seekers used a professional advisor. Among the stressed, 14% did.
The stressed group leaned more on family (43% versus 19%), friends (28% versus 13%) and AI (21% versus 15%).
That is an association, not a cause. Gallup cautions that fulfillment is not simply a product of working with an advisor, and that income and net worth do not fully explain who feels fulfilled.
Where AI helps and where it stops
AI can explain a Roth conversion or a required minimum distribution and help draft questions for a first meeting. It cannot see your tax return, your pension paperwork or your spouse’s Social Security record unless you upload them or enter them in.
Its answers also do not come with a legal duty to you. The Securities and Exchange Commission says an investment advisor is a fiduciary under federal law, bound by a duty of care and a duty of loyalty. A general-purpose chatbot is not a registered investment advisor.
Deadlines are where a second set of eyes tends to earn its keep, such as retirement decisions that carry tax consequences or cannot be reversed. Price help before hiring it: a 1% fee on $1 million is $10,000 a year.
Getting a person to check the plan
If you have $100,000 or more in investments and want an advisor to review a retirement plan, Advisor.com has a quiz that helps match you with a fiduciary financial advisor.
Before hiring any advisor, ask for the firm’s Form ADV Part 2A, the brochure that lays out its fees and conflicts of interest.
Whichever route you take, bring the same short list to the meeting: your most recent tax return, statements for every retirement account, and your Social Security estimate from your online account.
Add a Comment