Research commissioned by Evergreen.ai finds respondents with a financial advisor are more likely to ask AI about money than those without one, and nearly three times as likely to act on its answers unchecked; more than 42% of respondents have never tried to calculate how much they'll need to retire, including nearly a third of those expecting to retire within 15 years

Evergreen.ai, an AI-powered financial advice app designed to help Americans make more informed financial decisions using personalized financial, retirement, investment and tax strategies, today released The Evergreen.ai Financial Decisions Study, a national survey of nearly 2,000 Americans, examining how they make major money decisions and where they turn for guidance. The study found that nearly half of respondents have turned to artificial intelligence for financial guidance, and most act on what it tells them. Nearly half of respondents (48.4%) said they asked an AI chatbot about their money in the past year. Among those who did, 77.8% said they acted on the answer, and 28.7% acted on it without checking it against another source or a financial professional.

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Evergreen.ai, an AI-powered financial advice app designed to help Americans make more informed financial decisions using personalized financial, retirement, investment and tax strategies, today released The Evergreen.ai Financial Decisions Study, a national survey of nearly 2,000 Americans, examining how they make major money decisions and where they turn for guidance.

“The financial advice gap in this country is real, and Americans are desperately seeking financial guidance,” said Bill Harris, founder and CEO of Evergreen.ai. “They are looking for answers wherever they can find them, and nearly half of those we surveyed have already turned to AI. The question is whether the tools they are using were built to deserve their trust.”

The study further revealed a discrepancy between who might be expected to lean on AI and who actually does. Respondents with a financial advisor were more likely to have asked AI about their money than those without an advisor (63.8% versus 38.5%), and, among those who used AI, nearly three times as likely to act on an answer without checking it (41.9% versus 14.4%). Rather than replacing professional advice, AI appears to be layering on top of it, often without the same scrutiny.

Gaps also showed up in how respondents handled tax decisions. Among respondents who made a major financial decision in the past year for which taxes were relevant, 26.6% did not calculate the tax impact before deciding or were unsure of it, and only 33.1% calculated it in detail. The gap widened by wealth: 43.5% of households with less than $100,000 in investable assets did not calculate the tax impact of a major decision or were not sure of it, compared with 18.0% of households at or above that threshold.

Financial confidence followed the same line as advice. Nearly six in 10 respondents (59.8%) do not currently work with a professional financial advisor, and those without one were about three times as likely to report low confidence in their household finances heading into year-end, 31.7% versus 10.7% of those with an advisor. The uncertainty also showed up around retirement: more than four in 10 respondents (42.4%) had never tried to calculate how much money they would need to retire, including nearly a third of those who expect to retire within 15 years.

Despite ranking tax planning as their most urgent year-end decision, only 26.2% of respondents planned to make tax moves before December 31. More broadly, nearly 90% of respondents said they had put off at least one financial task longer than they should have in the past year, and of those, 53.5% cited difficulty understanding their options or knowing where to start.

“People are making decisions about taxes, retirement and their financial futures without always having the answers they need,” Harris added. “We built Evergreen.ai to help people understand their options before they act. A human advisor remains invaluable, especially for complex decisions, and more people deserve access to clear information along the way.”

The study follows the recent launch of Evergreen.ai, which helps people explore financial planning questions using their own financial information. Evergreen.ai is free through January 1, 2028, for consumers who register during the beta period.

Evergreen.ai commissioned the survey, which was fielded through the SurveyMonkey Audience panel without identifying the sponsor. Conducted on August 31, 2026, the survey was completed by 3,097 U.S. adults aged 25 to 75 who are sole or shared financial decision-makers for their households, with 1,981 retained for analysis after quality-control exclusions. The sample oversamples higher-income households, and 61.5% of analyzed respondents have $100,000 or more in investable assets. Results are weighted to U.S. Census region benchmarks only, so figures describe the households surveyed rather than all U.S. households. Additional methodology is noted in the full report. A press kit including the full report, interactive findings, and charts and assets is available here.

EVERGREEN.AI FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is The Evergreen.ai Financial Decisions Study?
It is a national survey commissioned by Evergreen.ai to examine what Americans know before making major financial decisions, where they seek answers and which financial tasks they postpone.

Why did Evergreen.ai commission this study, and how was it conducted?
Evergreen.ai commissioned the survey to better understand how Americans make major financial decisions: what they know before they act, where they turn with questions and what they put off when the answers are hard to find. The survey was conducted through the SurveyMonkey Audience panel without identifying Evergreen.ai as the sponsor to respondents.

Who participated in the study?
The analysis includes 1,981 U.S. adults ages 25 to 75 who were sole or shared financial decision-makers for their households. The survey was conducted on Aug. 31, 2026 and did not identify its sponsor to respondents.

What are the study’s main findings?
The study found gaps in how people assess the tax impact of major decisions and plan for retirement. It also found that many people ask AI about their money and act on its answers, sometimes without checking them elsewhere.

About Evergreen.ai

Evergreen.ai is on a mission to extend financial understanding to millions of Americans. Free for consumers who register during the public beta period, our AI-driven financial planning and advice app helps consumers project, plan, and make confident decisions about their financial future. The Evergreen.ai app uses the income, expense and investment information each user provides to answer financial planning questions, show where their money is going and guide the critical decisions that shape their financial life. It provides conversational AI chat, along with analytical tools and information resources to enrich consumers’ learning about money.

Evergreen.ai, a service of Evergreen Wealth Advisors, is a privately held company headquartered in Miami. Follow Bill Harris on LinkedIn or visit evergreen.ai to learn more.

Disclosures: Evergreen.ai provides general education and calculators and may provide personalized advice when you share sufficient information about your finances. This is not legal, tax, insurance or estate planning counsel and is not a recommendation to buy or sell a security. Evergreen.ai is a service of Evergreen Wealth Advisors Corporation, a registered investment adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about Evergreen's investment advisory services, Form ADV Part 2, and Form CRS can be found here - https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/326535.

Evergreen.ai is available at no cost. Additional services, like human investment advisor services and investment management, are available through Evergreen Wealth Advisors at a cost.

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Americans are desperately seeking financial guidance and looking for answers wherever they can find them. Nearly half of those we surveyed have already turned to AI. The question is whether the tools they are using were built to deserve their trust.