According to Charles Schwab's Modern Wealth survey, almost two-thirds of Americans feel like they are in better shape to reach their financial goals than previous generations.

Rob Williams, Charles Schwab's Managing Director of Financial Planning, Retirement Income, and Wealth Management, sits down with Alexandra Canal on Wealth! to discuss the reasons why Americans — across age demographics — feel better equipped to build their wealth, including clearer access to educational resources and investing platforms.

"We find that people actually still aren't that willing to talk about their finances with folks. It's really the information from places like Yahoo Finance, the access to information of any kind, whether it's investing or any way to live your life," Williams says. "So a lot of those surveyed tell us they do get information from social media, they do get it from financial media and use that as part of their inputs to making investment decisions. They also tell us they use their friends and family, but it's actually encouraging to us to see that more and more of them are also saying that they use professional financial advisors."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

More than 60% of Americans feel they're in better shape to reach their financial goals compared to the generations before them.

And that positivity might be driven by stock market participation.

That's according to a new report from Charles Schwab, Rob Williams, Charles Schwab, financial Planning, retirement income and wealth management managing director joins us now to discuss and Rob it's an interesting study considering we're in this era of high inflation, high interest rates.

We hear a lot about affordability issues when it comes to buying a home.

But despite all of that, why do Americans feel like they're in this better financial position compared to prior generations?

Well, it does come as a surprise, I suppose if you watch, you know, inflation, some of the negativity, certainly we're all faced with the there has been a multiyear trend really in access to investments though.

So that's where we see the confidence is really investors who were surveyed in our survey, which is across all age groups, all demographics telling us they feel a lot more confident in their access uh to the markets, access to ways to build wealth and the generation that came before them.

So that doesn't mean there's not a connection point there between their confidence and their access to markets and how they invest and, and how they're getting the information, et cetera.

But we're really encouraged to see that.

Uh Yes, this, this multiyear democratization of access to markets, ability to invest has increased confidence.

Each generation has told us that they feel more confident in their parents and the generation before them and they have choices with which to engage in their finances and naturally encouraging to us and Rob what's driving this access to information?

Is it platforms like Yahoo finance the ability to quickly research something or is it increased conversations with friends and family?

Because I know anecdotally, it seems like people are more willing to talk about investment strategies and money than they were maybe previously.

I think it's a little bit of both, but we find that people actually still aren't that willing to talk about their finances with folks.

It's really the information from places like Yahoo finance, the access to information of any kind, whether it's investing or any way you know, to live your life.

So a lot of those survey tell us, they do get information from social media, they do get it from financial media and, and use that as part of their inputs to making investment decisions.

They also tell us they use their friends and family.

But it's actually encouraging to us to see that more and more of them are also saying that they use professional financial advisor, they're looking for more education that goes deeper.

It goes beyond what you can just find, you know, out there, you know, on the internet, etcetera.

There's so much information, there's so much call it noise.

If you'd like that, we are seeing a trend and, and, and people wanting help and how to put all that information together.

So that's what we see in the survey we find that's encouraging because this can be complex.

A sound bite is not enough when it comes to saving for retirement, buying a house, et cetera.

And the internet's great.

Lots of information, but how to put all those pieces together.

It's a profession.

It's, it takes a lot of work, it takes education and it takes in many cases help.

And to that point, only one in five Americans say they are on top of their finances according to the survey, what steps can people take to make sure that they don't fall behind?

Right.

So part of putting order to noise, that that's how I kind of describe it is to have a plan.

And so you have a lot of choices, but what are your priorities?

What steps are you gonna take?

Are you gonna save for a house first?

Hopefully get started saving for retirement.

And we saw that 50% or so of those surveyed said that they didn't quite feel on top of, you know, their finances that, you know, getting to their goals, even though they had access, you know, to investments, to information, to research of stocks, the latest trends, et cetera.

But those who had a plan in place, whether it was just written down as, uh, hey, I'm gonna save 5% of my paycheck, you know, to a 401k.

Uh, I'm gonna prioritize also, uh, saving for a house doesn't have to be big steps, but just having some form of written financial plan really boosted confidence and, and, and that's really what we, we suggest is a lot of information, a lot of noise out there.

But whether it's on your own or hopefully with a financial professional, a certified financial planner putting all those pieces together are a little bit like a health plan to, to uh really increases confidence and, and helps put all these pieces together.

And what's the biggest financial planning hiccup that you tend to see with your clients?

Well, I think it's uh it, it has been starting late and saying, well, I can do that tomorrow.

I can, I can wait and it's really encouraged that encouraging that even Gen Z, the youngest generation has said that they're starting and saving and investing earlier.

Certainly not all, but those surveyed said that they started way before their parents did.

The average boomer says they started investing at age 35 after starting to save at age 34.

So the biggest mistake is not starting early because that is really the magical power of investing, compounding being an owner in the US and global economy is really what it's about not picking individual stock, not the hot trends.

Certainly we can start small, we can start with a few dollars saving and investing that grows your confidence, your education expands.

But as we mature and, and sort of have more at stake in our finances starting earlier, learning from mistakes, getting help when you need it.

All of those things are, are, are really, those are the success stories.

The biggest mistake is to not engage, learn and um and get on that path at at a young age, some great advice there, Rob Williams, Charles Schwab, Financial Planning, retirement income and wealth management, managing director.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.