Please stay tuned for important disclosure information at the conclusion of this episode.

Some people go the professional route to improve their financial outlook, and it may surprise them

that something else is fueling that need to get help with their money. Morningstar researchers have investigated

why people hire financial advisors. And it turns out their feelings play a role. Morningstar

Inc.'s behavioral scientist, Dr. Danielle Labaka and Morningstar Inc.'s behavioral researcher, Sam Llamas,

are joined the podcast. So let's start with a look at how many people in the U.S. work with their financial advisor.

Sam, what are the numbers?

Yes.

So in the U.S., about a third of Americans report working with a financial advisor.

In our sample for this study, about 20% of participants were working with the financial

advisor.

Now, Danielle, how did that break down by race and gender?

Yeah, so when we look at gender,

what we saw is that more women than men reported having a financial advisor, and that came out to roughly a third of women and a quarter of men. And then when we look at race, what we saw is that

about a third of white investors reported having an advisor, but a quarter of non-white investors

reported having one. And that kind of maps onto what we expect based on previous research

on the topic as well. So you guys' research found that is more than a financial need that

sometimes drive people or motivate them to hire

a financial advisor. Sam, talk about that. Yeah. So to be clear, people did report going to a financial

advisor to handle a specific financial need, but it wasn't the only reason, and it was definitely

not the most prominent reason either. So the other reasons that people reported going or hiring a

financial advisor had to do with their discomfort handling financial issues on their own, their need

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