Previous studies have demonstrated the benefits of using financial planners (Hanna, 2011, Elmerick et al., 2002; White & Heckman, 2016; Reiter & Qing, 2024). However, there are other sources that consumers use to obtain financial advice such as asking friends and family, using online services, calling around, or asking other non-financial planner professionals such as bankers and attorneys. Most studies have not examined the other sources of information that consumers use to seek financial advice. Therefore, this study mainly focuses on the specific service that consumers utilized including internet/online services, friend/relative, banker, call-around, and financial planner. To our best knowledge, little research has been conducted by comparing the specific help-seeking resources. In addition, to map out the decision differences between borrowing and investing, this study examined them separately. _x000D_
This study used the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) to examine the decision-making for borrowing and investing. Data from the SCF are widely used in financial planning and economic areas. For the 2022 wave of the survey, 4,595 households were interviewed. This study mainly focused on the most frequently used when making decisions about borrowing and investing; therefore, 3,807 observations were included for the estimation.