Self-directed investors still hire advisers, Betterment survey finds

Fifty-six percent of retail investors say their own research and judgment is the primary input for major financial decisions. That figure comes from Betterment's 2026 Retail Investor Survey, reported by Planadviser. A financial adviser gets the nod from only 16 percent. An identical share leans on family and friends.

At first glance, advice seems to be losing the information war. The survey's finer numbers say otherwise. Among investors who use digital platforms, 54 percent work with an adviser. For nonusers, that share is 33 percent. Platform users also feel more secure about retirement: 68 percent say they are confident. Among nonusers, the figure is 39 percent. Mindy Yu, Betterment's director of investing, reads the pattern as acceptance rather than rejection: broader access to information shows self-directed investors where they need help.

Artificial intelligence follows the same pattern, with a generational tilt. Trust in AI for financial decisions stands at 31 percent. That is up from 29 percent a year ago. Among investors who trust it, 53 percent say AI moved a decision they would not otherwise have made. Generation Z stands out: 48 percent say AI has already influenced a financial choice. Comfort with AI for long-range planning splits by age. Forty-one percent of Gen Z report feeling comfortable with it for that purpose. Among Baby Boomers, the share is 5 percent.

For an advisory practice, that 56 percent describes a client who wants help even after doing her own research. A client who arrives with research, a chatbot take, and a social-media reel has done homework, not rejected advice. The adviser's role shifts from supplying information to evaluating it — confirming what holds up, catching what does not, and being the accountable human being. Yu argues that AI and digital resources are opportunities to deepen client relationships, with personalization as the adviser's edge.

Ask what her research missed, not what she wants to do. That question works best before she acts on an AI-generated summary and buys. The self-directed client is already convinced she should make her own choices; the adviser who can evaluate without lecturing is the one she keeps.