Page 1 of 20
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 7
July 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 170
Who Seeks A Financial Planner? A Review of Literature
Fatemeh Kimiyaghalam ; Meysam Safari ; Shaheen Mansori
1Ph.D. Student, Institute of Post Graduate Studies, SEGi University, Malaysia
Jalan Teknologi, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail:fateme.kimiya@gmail.com
2Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business, SEGi University, Malaysia
Jalan Teknologi, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail:Meysam.safari@gmail.com
3Associate Professor, INTI International University,
Jalan BBN 12/1, Bandar Baru Nilai, 71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
E-mail: shaheen.mansori@gmail.com
Abstract
In today’s highly complex and volatile
financial market the importance of
financial advice in decision making is
difficult to rebut. People may seek for this
type of help through close networks (like
family or friends) or professional advisors.
This paper reviews and summarizes the
studies about financial help-seeking
behavior. The findings suggest that factors
like demographic profile, socio-economic
features, and psychosocial characteristics
are most likely to influence financial help- seeking behavior. To analyze the process
of this behavior, we apply the theory of
planned behavior and develop the
conceptual framework. The direction of
future studies is presented with a
particular highlighting on the outcome of
existing research.
Keywords: help-seeking behavior,
financial advice, financial planner, theory
of planned behavior, help-seeking
framework, retirement planning, personal
finance, retirement
JEL Classification: D1, G20, L84
1. Introduction
The Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
Board in the United States gives a broad
definition of financial planning: the
process of determining how to best achieve
one’s life objectives through managing
financial resources. Warschauer (2002) in
his paper suggests a more comprehensive
definition of financial planning. It points
out that a successful financial planner, in
addition to technical skills must
communicate well with clients to help
them to accomplish their financial goals;
“Financial Planning is the process
that takes into account the client’s
personality, financial status and the
socio-economic and legal
environments and leads to the
adoption of strategies and use of
financial tools that are expected to
aid in achieving the client’s financial
goals.”
Before the advent of financial
planning, the concentration of financial
advice was on investment guidance. The
traditional financial advisors like
solicitors, insurance agent, and real estate
Page 2 of 20
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 7
July 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 171
agents usually act as a dealer for their
products. Indeed, they first introduce their
financial products and then try to match
their products with the needs of customers.
In contrast, financial planners offer
financial advice based on the needs of the
clients and then looking for a product that
will suit their requirements (Brimble and
Murphy, 2012). Certified Financial
Planner Board of Standards (2009) defines
financial planning process in six steps;
1. Establishing and defining the client- planner relationship (service offered,
remuneration details).
2. Gathering client data (income, debt,
assets, liabilities, risk tolerance) and
identifying client goals (short, medium and
long term).
3. Analyzing data and identifying financial
issues.
4. Developing and preparing a plan
(recommendations).
5. Implementing a plan.
6. Monitoring and reviewing the plan (in
line with economic and lifestyle changes).
Nowadays the scope of the financial
planner is wider than that of traditional
financial advisers. Clients expect
comprehensive financial advice in the
areas of investment, retirement, insurance,
tax and real estate planning. Financial
planners depend on the type of their
licensed; they have permission to directly
buy and sell investment products.
Consequently, the role is much wider than
in the past, causing growing demands for
help seeking from a professional financial
planner regarding their technical
knowledge and other skills.
Help-seeking behavior is an action to
seek and receive assistance from a
secondary source (Grable and Joo, 2001).
It has been the object of considerable
researchs and practical attentions,
especially for mental health problems
(Collins et. al.2009; Mariu et al. 2012;
Fishbein &Ajzen, 2010; Zartaloudi &
Madianos, 2010; Spendelow & Jose,
2010). Other areas that have a significant
and growing body of research regarding
help-seeking behavior include such
decisions related to depression,
alcoholism, gambling addiction, weight
disorders, drug addiction, AIDS, cancer,
diabetes, emotional distress, and other
forms of chronic disability (Bhugra &
Hicks, 2014; Hingson, Mangione, Meyers
& Scotch, 1982 ; Splevins et al. 2010;
Prouty, , Protinsky & Canady, 2002;
Johnson, McChesney & Bean , 1988;
Burnhams et al. 2015; Iskandarsyah et al,
2014; Doshi et al. 2010; Carter & Forsyth,
2010). However, progress in these areas
has been handicapped by a lack of
conceptual clarity about the definition of
help-seeking and the absence of a
universal measurement scale that
facilitates the comparison of study results
in the field of health and psychological
problems (Rickwood & Thomas, 2012).
Some of these researchs are about
Adolescent help-seeking behavior since
this phase of life plays a crucial role in
developing the skills and attributes
necessary for an individual to become a
productive adult. Nevertheless, studies of
help-seeking behavior within the area of
personal finance are limited (Lim et al.
2014). Recently, the complexity of
financial markets has increased the
attention given to studies of financial help- seeking behavior. The current
development of financial institutions and
instruments has grown the responsibility
individual’s bear in making financial
decisions; thus, it is essential for them to
Page 3 of 20
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 02 Issue 7
July 2016
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 172
be knowledgeable consumers of financial
products. This move towards what Strauss
(2008) mentions as an ‘ideology of
individualism’ provokes great interest in
obtaining financial advice (Moss, 2015).
However, some studies show that most
people are not interested in seeking advice
from professional advisors like financial
planners (Chang, 2005). Instead, they
prefer to rely on informal networks of
family or friends or to solve their problems
by themselves (Grable, Cantrell &
Maddux, 2004). As a result, recognizing
the profile of individuals who are looking
for help from professionals in comparison
with those who are asking help from other
networks like family and friends become
an issue of practical importance.
Identifying the factors that determine
personal finance help-seeking behavior is a
keen interest to financial counselors as
they endeavor to develop new business and
attract more customers.
This article, after a brief introduction
to financial planning, explains the
supporting theory for help-seeking
behavior in Section 2; and then, in Section
3 defines the financial help-seeking
behavior and its measurement.In Section 4,
through the literature review, this study
will identify the influential factors on this
behavior which will end up with
conceptual framework proposed in Section
5.
2. Theory of Planned Behavior
Since human’s behavior is a complicated
process, it is hard to be explained by a
single factor (Aguirre, 2012). Most
researchers use Theory of Planned
Behavior for predicting the behavior of
individuals (Armitage and Conner, 2001;
Ajzen, 2011). The theory explained how
behaviors are shaped based on individual’s
attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions.
The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
was developed by Azjen in 1985 and has
been identified as one of the well-studies
theories for social behaviors (Perkins et al.,
2007).The multidimensional approach of
the theory of planned behavior has allowed
researchers to assess different influential
factors on individuals` behaviors.
Figure 1. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)
Ajzen (1991) defines behavioral
intention as “indications of how hard
people are willing to try, of how much of
an effort they are planning to exert, to
perform a behavior”. Attitude toward a
behavior points to individual’s perception
of the behavior. Subjective norm is an
individual's perception of the particular
behavior, which is influenced by the
judgment of significant others, like
parents, spouse, friends, etc. Perceived
behavioral control refers to the extent to
which people assess the difficulty and
easiness of performance of the behavior.
According to the theory, more
positive attitudes, subjective norms, and
