Interesting Financial Statistics You May Not Know

Jim Lorenzen, CFP^®, AIF^®

I came across some interesting stats in the most recent Journal of Financial Planning; I thought you might find a few of them interesting – I know I do.

A recent survey revealed that 65% of respondents said they mistrust the financial services industry. Only 2% said they trusted financial professionals “a lot”. Yet, 58% of those with 401(k) plans said they wanted help choosing investments.

93% of Americans think that advisors who provide retirement advice should put their clients’ interests first. 53% mistakenly believe that all financial advisors are required to do so. Only 21%, however, understand the difference between a planner who is a fiduciary and one who is not. Maybe this is what leads to the gap in trust. 50% of investors who work with a financial planner say they know for certain their advisor is a fiduciary.

It appears both investor education and advisor trust need to be improved.

Jim

Jim Lorenzen is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^® professional and an ACCREDITED INVESTMENT FIDUCIARY^® serving private clients since 1991. Jim is Founding Principal of The Independent Financial Group, a registered investment advisor with clients located across the U.S.. He is also licensed for insurance as an independent agent under California license 0C00742. The Independent Financial Group does not provide legal or tax advice and nothing contained herein should be construed as securities or investment advice, nor an opinion regarding the appropriateness of any investment to the individual reader. The general information provided should not be acted upon without obtaining specific legal, tax, and investment advice from an appropriate licensed professional.

Jim Lorenzen

Jim Lorenzen is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional and an ACCREDITED INVESTMENT FIDUCIARY® serving private clients’ wealth management needs since 1991. Jim is Founding Principal of The Independent Financial Group, a Registered Investment Advisor providing wealth management, retirement planning and investment advisory services. Jim's background includes founding, building, and selling five successful businesses and international consulting. He has been headline speaker at more than 500 national and international association and corporate conventions for clients such as Foster Grant, Hobie Cat, CapCities/ABC, H.R. Textron, Hearst Corporation, The National Management Association, the National Newspaper Association, and Cox Communications and has been featured on American Airlines' Sky Radio heard on more than 19,000 flights, as well as in The Wall Street Journal’s SmartMoney magazine, The Profit Sharing Council of America’s Insights; also published in the Journal of Compensation and Benefits, NASDAQ, and in scores of national and international association trade publications.

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