All Financial Advice for the Middle Class is Not Equal Danielle D. Winchester 1 & Sandra J. Huston 2 Received: 24 November 2014 /Accepted: 14 April 2015 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract Professional financial advice has been shown to improve the financial well being and stability of US households. However, less than 2% of middle-class households use the services of a financial advisor compared to 60% of affluent households. Many contend that this difference is a result of the middle class’ s belief that financial advice is only beneficial to the wealthy. This study is one of the first to empirically test this sentiment, and it finds that middle- class households who are comprehensively managed are more than three times as likely to be well prepared for retirement, more than twice as likely to use their employee benefits appropriately, and nearly twice as likely to have an adequate emergency fund compared to households who do not purchase financial advice. These findings demonstrate that, although goals may differ between middle-class and affluent households, financial advisors have a positive influence on household financial behaviours regardless of economic class. Results from this study suggest that financial advice, particularly comprehensive financial planning services, should be promoted to US middle-class households and that financial planners should be encouraged to serve the middle-class market. Keywords Middle class . Financial advice . Value . Behaviours Middle-class America is one of the, if not the most, hardest hit demographic group of the 2007 Recession, and it is faced with shouldering an increasing responsibility for managing its short- and long-term financial stability (Anderson 2010). This added responsibility is coming during an era when consumers not only lack the financial sophistication needed to behave optimally but also when financial products are becoming more complex and market conditions more daunting (Volpe et al. 2006). This combination of events increases both the likelihood of less than optimal decision making by the middle class, as well as the severity of these Bbad^ J Consum Policy DOI 10.1007/s10603-015-9290-8 * Danielle D. Winchester ddwinche@ncat.edu Sandra J. Huston sandra.huston@ttu.edu 1 Department of Accounting & Finance, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC, USA 2 Department of Personal Financial Planning, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA