A new poll by Capita Employee Benefits has revealed Google remains the nation’s top financial adviser with more than a third (37 per cent) of employed people turning to the search engine first when researching financial products.
Capita’s survey found family and friends were consulted by a third (33 per cent) and more than one in five turn to the personal finance pages or money-themed television and radio programmes for financial advice. The survey made no mention of regulated advice.
Regarding pension investments, nearly half of people (48 per cent) polled described themselves as cautious or very cautious investors, a third (36 per cent) were balanced and one in six describe themselves as adventurous or very adventurous.
Men (16 per cent) were more likely to be adventurous than women (11 per cent) and those aged less than 24 were more adventurous (30 per cent) than those aged 65 plus (19 per cent).
The research points to the success of auto-enrolment in getting people to save for retirement. More than half (58 per cent) of employees who have been auto-enrolled had not previously joined any other kind of personal/private pension scheme.
However, although people are now saving, just 22 per cent of auto-enrolled employees are confident that they will have enough in their pension pot to retire comfortably.
Around half of those polled (46 per cent) had a mortgage, more than a third (36 per cent) have outstanding debt on a credit card, a quarter have an overdraft and nearly one in six owe money to family.
