A new Harris Poll survey claims that fake financial news is impacting Americans’ ability to make retirement, investment and health care decisions.
Nearly two-thirds (63%) say that the spread of fake news has made it more difficult to make critical financial decisions, specifically:
- health care decisions (44%);
- investing in the stock market (40%);
- retiring (36%); and
- buying or selling a house (35%).
Additionally, 35% reported having trouble deciding if they should start a business, and 29% said it was harder to decide if they should switch jobs.
Almost three in five Americans (58%) believe that fake news is a serious threat to their financial decision making, with more than half of those (33%) saying the threat is very serious. Those sentiments are consistent for both genders, among household incomes and across generations.
Only 14% say they expect fake financial news to become less prevalent in the next year or two, with a third (32%) saying it will stay about the same. Most (51%) expect fake news and misleading headlines to get more prevalent, with more than half of those (30%) saying that it’s going to get much more common.
More than three-fourths (77%) of Americans feel it's important to act fast to make financial decisions when breaking financial news becomes available, with 40% saying it's very important to act quickly, according to a new telephone survey of 1,018 adults conducted in March 2017 for the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) by Harris Poll in support of National Financial Capability Month.
