Last Friday, PlanAdviser.com posted a story about a consumer survey conducted in June 2009 by market research firm Mintel Comperemedia. It addressed the issue of financial education. The firm found that three-fourths of online survey respondents are trying to improve their financial knowledge in response to the current economic crisis. Thirty-eight percent say they are turning to financial advisers for help, or plan to do so soon. But what about people that don’t have the assets to work with a financial advisor, or that prefer to manage their own finances? Where are they to turn for help? Probably the same place millions turn for the latest news and information everyday, the World Wide Web.

Corporate Insight recently published its first cross-industry analysis of the state of Web-based financial education, Consumer Financial Education Today: Best Practices. One of the reasons we tackled this subject was that we felt that consumers want and need better financial education to cope with today’s challenging environment; the Mintel Comperemedia survey confirms that view.

We also felt it was only natural that financial services firms would strive to satisfy this consumer need for knowledge. After all, good educational content helps create smarter consumers, while at the same time giving firms an opportunity to promote suitable products and services to them. Educational content also offers financial institutions a way to earn back the trust they’ve lost in the recent crisis, demonstrating that they have their clients’ best interests at heart.

In our report, we identify dozens of best practices across all segments of the industry, from banks to brokerages to mutual fund firms and beyond. Certain industry segments - like the self-directed brokerages - proved very innovative in terms of online education, offering several examples that could benefit any financial services firm. Other industry segments - like credit card issuers and annuity firms - haven’t really risen to the challenge, unfortunately. The report discusses the leaders in all of the segments that Corporate Insight tracks, plus retirement plan websites, in an effort to help our clients improve their own educational offerings.

For those financial institutions that haven’t invested in their educational content in the past few years, our research will help them understand what they’re up against and hopefully inspire them to innovate and engage consumers through effective educational features. Clearly, consumers want to learn. Now it’s time for more financial institutions to step up and teach them.

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