New survey reveals the financial advice priorities of Canadian adults and where they are turning to for help
Canadians are keen to find ways to navigate the elevated cost of living, but they still have an eye on their longer-term financial futures.
While dealing with inflation and interest rates is driving demand for financial advice, getting finances under control – and improving – remains a common theme among respondents to a new survey from WealthRocket.
The personal finance website asked 1,200 Canadian adults about their finances and discovered that 19% said they are out of control. This was most prevalent among those aged 25 to 44, where 22% feel that way.
While 37% said that the cost of living is their main reason for needing financial advice, investing is not far behind with 29% of respondents wanting investment assistance. Rising interest rates (26%) and getting out of debt (21%) were also frequently cited.
David O'Leary, CFA, WealthRocket's personal finance expert, says that many people are concerned about keeping a roof over their heads.
"Where I see people needing help the most right now is around homeownership," he said. "Higher interest rates are leading to challenges with maintaining mortgages."
Getting advice
As with previous research, the poll reveals that asking friends and family is the top source of financial advice (50%) followed by banks (49%) but social media ranks third (39%) despite more than a quarter of poll participants acknowledging that it’s not a reliable source – and O’Leary agrees.
"There can be good advice on social media," he acknowledged. "But you have to be highly critical of what you're viewing."
Independent financial advisors (27%) and financial blogs and news sites (20%) are other popular sources of financial advice.
Almost half of respondents had sought financial advice in the past 12 months.
