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This week, a pastor from a local church contacted me to learn more about the Reaching FIRE course that I have developed. To say that I was excited was an understatement. Any chance to share my course with others is thrilling.
The pastor mentioned to me that his church was not currently offering any financial education to members of the congregation. With so much disinformation out there, it’s nice to see churches eager to fulfill the need surrounding personal finance.
In the beginning of Reaching FIRE, I ask people how they learn about personal finance. Not surprisingly, most people learn about finances through their parents or by personal experiences. Rarely do I hear that someone gained financial knowledge through school or a financial mentor along the way, which is unfortunate.
Recently, I came across a survey from TD Bank Love and Money Survey 2017 about who/what people turn to for financial advice. I thought it’d be fun to explore the various ways people acquire advice and provide some running commentary along the way.
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I Don’t Turn to Anyone (44%)
Right off the bat, 44% of people figure it out on their own. I have a feeling this explains why so many people struggle financially today. There is so much information, along with misinformation, out there that you would really be foolish not to seek outside advice.
To be honest, this one frustrated me the most.
I think Charlie Munger said it best: “I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.”
I am definitely not the smartest guy, but I have an insatiable appetite for personal finance. Although it’s my passion, I realize that it may not be everyone else’s. Either way, everybody should take their finances seriously and seek our reputable sources to gain more knowledge.
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Experts (i.e. Professional Advisors) (20%)
1 out of 5 people consults with professionals. That is great. Although I do worry about the professionals who do not have fiduciary responsibilities.
With all the recent robo-advisors and professional expertise that online services such as Personal Capital, YNAB and Wealthfront, offer, anybody has access to “experts”.
Between those three websites, you can acquire a complete financial picture of your finances, your budget and your investments. Still, there is something to be said for meeting with an actual human being to discuss finances, perfectly tailored to you.
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Mom (8%)
Moms are great, aren’t they?
Growing up, my Mom handled the day-to-day finances in our household. Meanwhile, my Dad handled the investments. So personally, I sought my Dad’s investment advice more often than my Mom’s. It’d be really interesting to hear from the readers on whom they turned to more often- Mom or Dad.
I wonder if our kiddos will probably turn to me for financial advice before my wife, simply because it I also focus more on investments, while my wife takes care of the day-to-day. That’s not to disparage my wife’s contribution to our finances. We both work to our strengths!
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Professional Articles or Blogs (8%)
Although I majored in Finance in college, I really learned about personal finance through the Internet. It really doesn’t surprise me that this is #4 on the list.
I am a huge personal finance geek and try to soak up as much information as possible. You know you are true geek when you read through various financial books that you already know backwards and forwards with the hopes of gleaning just one additional nugget of information. Personal finance is the one area where the more I know, the more I realize how much I really don’t know. Certain areas seem to be constantly changing.
I will probably continue to read about personal finance for the rest of my life.
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Dad (7%)
As I stated above, my Dad is the one that I usually bounce my investment decisions off of. While I always discuss with my wife about my investment ideas, my Dad is a great sounding board to provide another perspective.
It can be easy to have blinders on, so talking to my Dad is always helpful. Whether it’s running my Wealthfront experiment by him or hearing his thoughts as I move away from picking stocks to passive index funds, I’m thankful for his input.
Although it would be nice to have more friends to talk about this stuff with, I really don’t have many who love to talk about nitty gritty financial things.
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Other Family Member (6%)
My friend has a proverbial rich uncle on whom he seeks investment counsel. His uncle does all sorts of exotic trades and covered calls. He boasts about all the money he makes on a regular basis.
I have offered multiple times to fly my friend and myself out to California so that both of us can sit down with his uncle to learn his ways. His uncle has quite a few investment tips and tricks that he has learned over the years. Whether or not I’d use them, I am still curious. I want to learn as much as I can when it comes to finance, including unique investment strategies. Alas, my friend is always super busy at work, and his uncle has never been available when we have been. So it hasn’t quite worked out yet. Although, I’m hoping it’s just a matter of time.
It also doesn’t help that we have 4 children, 3 years old and younger, between us. So leaving our families while we have fun in California for a week doesn’t sound very exciting to our spouses.
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Friends (4%)
This is both good and bad, in my opinion. Study after study has shown that you are most like the 5 closest friends that you have. For awhile, I had some friends who were lousy at personal finance. They definitely pulled me onto some financial paths that they were on.
Over the years, I have had to pare back on some friends with poor financial acumen. The positive take-away from those negative financial experiences is that sometimes the best lessons result from being burned. Thankfully, I didn’t get too burned on any deals, but I did see some of those friends get torched along the way.
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Colleagues (2%)
I probably talk to colleagues about finances much more than other people do. Most times, it results in me sharing the plethora of financial information that I have garnered over the years.
I’m sure I’ve annoyed a couple of colleagues at some point or another, but I can’t help but share my passion with others. Plus, if they don’t like it, than can easily avoid me. 🙂
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Celebrity or TV Personality (0%)
I am so thankful that most people don’t receive financial advice from the talking heads on TV anymore. They remind me of the squawking that goes back and forth on ESPN these days. I rarely see any analysis on ESPN now. It seems like it has just turned into a bunch of people yelling over each other about their opinions.
I’m just glad to see this category ranking at 0%.
As you can see, there are a variety of ways that most people receive financial information today. While my preference is to see a solid curriculum taught in schools, I am also a big proponent of finding a financial mentor to help guide you along the way. If we can find mentors at work, doesn’t it only make sense to have financial mentors in life?
I’ve mostly learned from my own learning and talking with Jack. We both are passionate like you and find it so interesting how we can control our own destiny.
Parents can be a great resource for some by way of teaching through actions or teaching through their successes.
Congrats on the course!!
Chris @ Duke of Dollars recently posted…DoD Health Savings Account (HSA) 101: What, How, and Why You Should Take Advantage P1
Thanks for sharing Chris!!! It’s really nice when you have someone to bounce things off of and I totally agree we pick up our parents habits whether good or bad 🙂
Interesting survey and findings! I learned about money mainly through my family, my own experience and observations of others, and personal finance blogs.
Sometimes I do look up financial info though Google if I have a specific questions. Happy Thanksgiving!
Ms. Frugal Asian Finance recently posted…10 Things I’m Grateful For (Thanksgiving Edition)
Thanks for sharing Ms. FAF!!! Like you I love having google at my finger tips when I have a question. I can’t imagine what was done before Google 🙂
I definitely think that personal finance should be taught in school at some capacity. the whole point of having kids attend school is to prepare them for life and teach them the skills that they need to succeed as adults. I am disappointed that the school system is not putting more emphasis on this topic.
Happy thanksgiving MSM.
Leo T. Ly @ isaved5k.com recently posted…How To Hire The Right Financial Advisor
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well Leo!!! I definitely agree that failure to teach children about money is a failure on school systems and parents. We should demand that it’s taught in school. It should definitely be a requisite to graduating!!!
For me, the best source of financial knowledge was actually from blogs. Where I live here, only about ~0.40% of the country population has invested in stocks and the financial education is somewhere around that number.
A blog like this one was recommended to me by one of my friends at the workplace and ever since I’ve been reading and gaining more knowledge from others.
I think that by reading from blogs it’s a great way to gain experience and to find out new ways of investing and of thinking. I think that financial education actually helps you change your way of life as well and that can be a challenge if you never had to save a penny before.
Alex @ Asset plus recently posted…Investing strategy
Thanks for sharing Alex!!! I definitely have learned a ton off of blogs over the years. It’s amazing how much great information is out there if you look for it 🙂
I’m shocked it isn’t more than 44%. I guess people are just awful advice or just not taking it.
My number one resource are my fellow bloggers. So many of you guys are wealth of knowledge that come at things from a thousand different angles.
Grant @ Life Prep Couple recently posted…“How Do I Lose Belly Fat??”
Thanks for sharing Grant!!! Like you I have learned so much from my fellow bloggers. It’s amazing how iron sharpens iron 🙂
Hmm, a few things that I find a little surprising.
Mom vs Dad: Traditionally I’ve seen males tend to handle the finances in a household. Therefore it strikes me as a little surprising that Mom ranked slightly higher than Dad. I wonder why this is? Is my perception incorrect? Perhaps some sort of bias in the people who took the survey?
Celebrity/TV folks: Mostly thinking the likes of Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman…I’m shocked that they ranked so low. Certainly their programs are known by many.
Interesting findings nonetheless!
Dave @ Married with Money recently posted…Be Thankful
Thanks for sharing Dave!!! I definitely agree I wouldn’t have thought that Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman fall so low on the list, especially with as many people that are watching them on a daily basis 🙂
My Dad got me started. I also used to read Money Magazine and Kiplingers personal finance as well as correspondence from mutual funds that I owned. Funny/sad how such an important topic is left to such chance. Tom
Tom @ Dividends Diversify recently posted…The Lights Are on But No One is Home
That’s awesome to hear that your Dad got your started early. I learned from my Dad as well, although I wish he had taught me to buy some Apple stock when I was young 🙂
Blogs have been my number one source of financial information, followed closely by books for number two. I noticed that the poll didn’t include books or schools as options. However, I agree that most people are probably trying to figure everything out on their own. Peoples’ financial situations would improve if they looked to other sources for advice and knowledge.
Jeff @ Maximum Cents recently posted…How to Calculate Your Savings Rate for FIRE
I definitely agree with you Jeff!!! I wish more people would seek out this type of information like they do for celebrity gossip 🙂
Interesting results. I would think professional articles and blogs would be higher. People are always Googling every single thing these days I thought. And once you Google, you come across these articles. I wonder if the 44% includes researching on your own, but still using articles on the internet 🙂
SMM recently posted…Better Later Than Too Late
Thanks for sharing SMM!!! It would be really interesting to see how they define 44%. I’ll have to go back and see what they say 🙂
For me, it’s mostly online. I get into the weeds with some of my searches, because I want to know the information for myself.
Erik recently posted…Good to Great Book Review
Thanks for sharing Erik!!! Like you I definitely get way down into the weeds with this stuff 🙂 But I realize not everyone thinks like that.
I conducted a financial planning workshop in my local area and all the participants agreed that financial literacy should be required in schools. The young people were hungry for information. They wanted to do things right and not be ignorant.
Reading the list, the family/friends/coworker was the most troubling. So many people are poorly informed and fail to make good recommendations.
Dora recently posted…How Money Plays a Role in Our Lives
That’s awesome to hear Dora that you taught a financial planning workshop. People are definitely hungry for this information and lost as to where to find it. Thanks for sharing!!!
My best source of knowledge has been the books I have consumed on personal finance, but really the PF blogosphere. I feel bad when I can’t catch up with all the blogs I normally read. I feel almost a pressure to keep up, even when a lot of the advice is the same. I am thinking if I don’t read their articles I am missing out on something.
Jason recently posted…Being Thankful This Holiday Season
Thanks for sharing Jason!!! There are so many amazing writers out there and I agree some of the advice overlaps but I am always hunting for that little nugget that I might have missed 🙂
It is great that you are teaching personal finance to church members. It is awesome that you are building a reputation already and other pastors are interested in your services. My favorite source for personal finance information now is to read blogs. I stared with books and magazines. I have also read forums for many years.
Dave recently posted…Planning on working until age 70?
Thanks for sharing Dave!!! I definitely agree that bloggers are a great resource. There is so much great information being shared out there and I definitely have learned more than I would have otherwise 🙂
I have always been interested in saving and investing. I’m not sure where it came from. Maybe it was just me rebelling against the counter-examples around me. Everybody was destitute and complaining about money. I decided young that it would not be me if there was anything I could do about it. That was my motivation. The knowledge came mostly from books I think. Like Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson.
Thanks for sharing Wealthy Doc!!! Like you I’m not sure exactly where my love of the stock market came from but I am definitely glad that I became interested. It’s definitely an enjoyable experience when the market is going well 🙂
Hey MSM! Very interesting article! When I was growing up, the only advice my dad would give me is to get good grades, try to save some money, and buy a home. Like most, he would say it’s the best and safest investment. I’m happy that I didn’t take this advice 100%.
TBH, even though I studied finance in school, I didn’t really look deeply into PF until maybe a year ago. That’s when I read into all these awesome blogs and felt like I could learn so much from them! Sadly, I learn way more from blogs and PF books than what I learned in university! So yeah, I’ve made so many mistakes due to lack of knowledge (and I’m sure I still make many mistakes today) but I’m happy that I learned. I still have a long way to go! Overall though, I’m also happy that I discovered PF blogs and books 🙂
Thnx for sharing!
fin$avvy panda @ finsavvypanda.com recently posted…10 Ways To Be Financially Prepared For Christmas – Especially #2 and #3
Isn’t sad that you learned about finance in school but didn’t learn the ins and outs of personal finance. I definitely think this should be taught over some of the other classes like underwater basket weaving 🙂
Interesting to see what people really think are valuable sources of information for personal finance. I think the huge figure for working it out on their own shows that bloggers like us have a lot of work to do in terms of trying to encourage people to take our advice. I personally have learnt from online, but also helped my understanding through my study from books and also from courses in Economics and Business which have some transferable skills. The celebrity thing is good, don’t think they would be a good source of this information 😛
Hahahaha…I’m definitely think you should shy away from celebrity endorsements like Paris Hilton and her cryptocurrency recommendations 🙂