Source: Radio New Zealand
New Zealanders actively think about their financial situation, with 63 percent considering their position at least weekly. RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has found just 28 percent of New Zealanders have accessed financial advice in the past 12 months, with some groups significantly under-represented.
The regulator’s review found people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and some ethnic groups, including Māori and Pasifika communities, were missing out, with many unsure about what financial advice is, how to access it and how much it cost.
“Additionally, accessibility challenges are more pronounced for Māori, who encounter barriers including a lack of culturally aligned advice models and tools,” FMA chief executive Samantha Barrass said.
There was a gap in the availability of advice to support New Zealanders through retirement, with many unsure about how to sustainably use their savings throughout retirement.
She said many providers were uncertain about how to tailor the nature and scope of advice.
“This means advisers sometimes do more than they need to, or take an overly cautious approach, making advice less accessible.”
Financial Advice New Zealand chief executive Nick Hakes said members were looking forward to further collaboration and engagement with the FMA in coming months.
Among the key findings was New Zealanders actively thought about their financial situation, with 63 percent considering their position at least weekly.
However, poor financial literacy was an issue for many. Many had just moderate confidence in understanding what a financial advisor does, with women being less confident than men.
Education also played a role in confidence. Just 48 percent of those with a high school education rated themselves as having a high level of confidence of better than four out of five, followed by 69 percent for those with a bachelor’s degree and 67 percent for those with a master’s degree.
The FMA said there was also room for improvement when it came to helping consumers seek financial advice.
Affordability was an issue for 31 percent of respondents, while 26 percent said they did not know where to start, followed by a lack of trust in advisers (15 percent), not knowing how to find a qualified adviser and information overload (both 14 percent).
Just one in five respondents said they preferred to manage their finances themselves.
Only 24 percent indicated they had not experienced any difficulty in getting financial advice.
Barrass said innovation was a key area of opportunity for increasing accessibility, including technology-enabled and hybrid advice models that could make advice scalable and more consistent.
“Technology can automate parts of the process that currently take advisers a lot of time, freeing them up to focus more on the human conversations that consumers value.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
