Canadians place a high value on human advice, especially when it comes to a financial decision or major life event.
A recent CIBC poll found that 63% of Canadians would rather speak to another person when seeking out advice than rely on information from the web. That number rose to 70% when it came to financial advice specifically.
Almost half of Canadians (46%) said they prefer to speak with a financial advisor for financial advice, and 36% said they turn to friends and family. Only 20% of respondents said they go online.
Canadians said they were most likely to seek financial advice for retirement planning (40%), general investment planning (30%), wills or estate planning (27%) and planning to purchase a home (26%).
Respondents who had experienced a key life event in the past year felt that their advisor had provided sound advice when they consolidated or paid off debt (57%), made a large purchase (53%), began retirement planning (50%) and conducted wills and estate planning (50%).
The survey also found that Canadians are not turning to the web when it comes to basic financial information. Two thirds of respondents (65%) said they do not use online search engines when they have questions about financial matters, such as GICs, mutual funds, RRSPs or TFSAs.
While many Canadians (63%) turned to another person for advice on major life events, those aged 18 to 34 were the most likely to do so (78%), followed by those 35 to 54 (64%) and those 55 and older (52%).
The poll, conducted by Maru/Blue, surveyed 3,033 Canadian adults online from Dec. 13-17, 2019. The results were weighted according to Census data to be representative of the Canadian population.