The Relation between Internet Use and Financial Planner Use for Savings and Investment Decisions

In an analysis of a combination of the 1998 to 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances datasets, the use of the Internet for savings and investment decisions grew much more rapidly than the use of financial planners for those decisions. A multivariate analysis of the use of financial planners showed that all other things being equal, use of the internet for savings and investment decisions had a negative effect on the likelihood of using a financial planner for savings and investment decisions. It is possible that increases in the client base for financial planners is limited by the growth of savings and investment resources on the Internet, although financial planners could adopt measures proposed for other professional services to deal with the competition in information resources