PODCAST
Financial Security in 2026: Tips for Investors and How Firms Can Help
Financial security is about more than just building wealth: It's about resilience, preparation, and having the tools to weather whatever comes your way. And right now, with rising costs, market volatility, and evolving fraud risks, investors need that security more than ever.
On this episode, FINRA Investor Education Foundation President and Senior Vice President of Investor Education Gerri Walsh discusses what financial security really means in 2026, and how firms can help protect and empower their customers. This conversation sits at the heart of FINRA Forward, our commitment to evolving alongside the rapidly changing securities industry in support of our mission of protecting investors and market integrity.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
FINRA Investor Education Foundation
Protecting Consumers from Fraud
Blog Post: FINRA Forward’s Rule Modernization—An Update
Blog Post: Vendors, Intelligence Sharing and FINRA’s Mission
Blog Post: FINRA Forward Initiatives to Support Members, Markets and the Investors They Serve
Ep. 168: Investing Wisely in 2025: Avoiding Scams and Achieving Your Financial Goals
Listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Below is a transcript of the episode. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human editors and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
00:00 – 01:03
Margherita Beale: Financial security is about more than just building wealth: it's about resilience, preparation, and having the tools to weather whatever comes your way. And right now, with rising costs, market volatility, and evolving fraud risks, investors need that security more than ever.
On this podcast, we will explore what financial security really means in 2026, and how firms can help protect and empower their customers, a conversation that sits right at the heart of FINRA Forward, our commitment to evolving alongside the rapidly changing securities industry in support of our mission of protecting investors and market integrity.
Margherita Beale: Welcome to FINRA Unscripted. I'm your host, Margherita Beale. Here to talk to us today about financial security is Gerri Walsh, President of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and Senior Vice President of Investor Education. Gerri, welcome back to the podcast.
01:03 – 01:04
Gerri Walsh: Thanks for having me.
01:04 – 01:16
Margherita Beale: Of course. So, Gerri, you've been on our podcast quite a few times, but for those listeners who may not be familiar with you, can you tell us a little bit about you and your role at FINRA?
01:16 – 01:53
Gerri Walsh: Happy to. I have been with FINRA for almost 20 years now. And the last 15 of them, I've been head of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and also the Investor Ed department. And our whole role is to help empower and engage retail investors with the tools and information that they need to make sound decisions throughout their life. And so, we've got content on finra.org and the Foundation has a broad range of research, outreach, and training initiatives to help inform the field.
01:53 – 02:06
Margherita Beale: Great. So that's kind of a perfect segue into what we're here to talk about today. So, Gerri, when we talk about financial security in today's environment, what does that really mean for the average investor?
02:06 – 04:03
Gerri Walsh: Financial security goes well beyond wealth accumulation. It's also about whether people are resilient and prepared. And so in other words, do the investors that our listeners work with have the ability to weather economic ebbs and flows without derailing their long-term goals? And do they have a firm financial foundation that can help them withstand factors like market volatility or inflation or unexpected expenses that might crop up in their personal lives? The components of financial security range, but they include things like having precautionary savings, making sure that you're managing debt, establishing and executing on goals, which can include saving for retirement but that's not the only goal that people have, and also protecting against risks.
This environment, you mentioned today's environment, and that really presents some unique challenges for people. We know from the recently released National Financial Capabilities Study that the Foundation did, the most recent wave, that adults in the United States are really feeling pinched when it comes to their finances. About two thirds of people told us that they were worried about increased food costs and that those increased costs were causing them to cut back on other spending, including saving. And we know that most people today in the United States are spending more than they make, more than they have in income compared with three years ago. And that all leads to an increased sense of financial anxiety. It's at an all-time high, almost two thirds of people, 63%, told us that they were anxious whenever they thought about their finances.
04:03 – 04:09
Margherita Beale: With this backdrop in mind, what are some practical tips for investors?
04:09 – 07:48
Gerri Walsh: Well, it's always a good idea to identify and then anchor yourself on your financial goals. This is something I feel like a broken record on, but it's so important because everyone's financial goals are going to be unique. They will depend on your financial and personal circumstances, including how much you're making, how much you're spending, what sort of obligations you have financially. Some of us have aging parents, some of us have young children, some of us have both. And only about 39% of people, going back to the National Financial Capability Study, only about 39% of people have even tried to figure out how much they need to save for retirement, which is one of those financial goals. But that's not the only one.
It's really important to iron out what your financial goals are and then make a plan to achieve them. Part of that is making sure that you've got precautionary savings, a rainy day fund. A lot of experts suggest about three to six months of the expenses that you would have to pay regardless of whether you had income coming in. And having that kind of buffer can help you weather the financial storm. So, it's really important to have that buffer.
And if you're one of the, gosh, nearly half of Americans who engages in suboptimal credit card behavior, like only paying the minimum due or taking out advances, those kinds of behaviors, try to get yourself in a better debt position, try to winnow down that credit card debt because reducing those drains on your cash flow can free up more money that you have to save and invest. And these days, it's always a good idea to be both strategic and realistic about risk.
Our recent Investor Study showed that investors are less willing now to take risk, substantial risk with their investments than they were three years ago. And that's especially true for investors who are under the age of 35. Back in 2021, 24% of that cohort was willing to take substantial risk in order to achieve their goals. But now that's declined to 15%. And even at a time where people are saying that they're not willing to take risk, that younger cohort, almost two thirds of them are saying, that they believe that they will have to take big risks in order to achieve their goals. So, there's this disconnect and this odd feeling about risk that investors have. So, it's really important to be honest with yourself about two things.
One is how do you feel about taking risk? Some of us enjoy bungee jumping and we're perfectly happy when we bungee jump. But when it comes to being in the markets, is the risk that you're taking with your portfolio going to keep you up late at night or give you that awful feeling in your gut? If it's going to increase your anxiety, it's probably too much risk. But the second thing is how much can you actually absorb? People often think about the risk of a good thing happening, the risk of a bad thing happening. But you also need to think about, can I literally pay the bill if I take on too much risk? If I lose my money, will I be able to make ends meet?
07:48 – 08:00
Margherita Beale: On the subject of how investors are feeling, what are you hearing from them right now? What are some of the biggest concerns or blind spots when it comes to getting their finances in order?
08:00 – 11:05
Gerri Walsh: The biggest concerns are really market volatility and the cost of living. Those are top of mind for most Main Street investors that we hear from and from the investors that we survey. We also see that there's a heightened fear of losing money to financial fraud. And when I'm talking about financial fraud, I'm talking about that third-party actor scenario. And that's why we encourage people to seek out registered financial professionals when it comes to getting advice about investment opportunities. From that Investor Study that we did, we saw that more than a third, 37% of people, are worried about losing money to a scam. And that's up from 31% three years ago.
You asked about blind spots. Some of the blind spots that we see include a lack of awareness about fees. Even among mutual fund owners, four in 10 thought that they didn't pay any fees at all. And we know from how mutual funds are structured that that's just not the case, there are fees. We also see that overconfidence in financial knowledge is an issue for a lot of investors. About two thirds of U.S. adults give themselves high marks when you ask them, “how good do you think you are at managing your finances?” They think they're fantastic. But then when we administer a seven-question quiz, we find that fewer than half of those people can answer four of the seven questions correctly. And these are day-to-day concepts like investing, risk, inflation, the power of compound interest, both good and bad. So, these are things that don't require math to do and people should be able to answer, but there's a gap. We see that they think they're good at managing their money, but they don't know these basic concepts.
And we see a similar pattern when it comes to investing, because in the Investor Study that we did, we asked a longer set of questions that were homing in directly on investing concepts. But we still see a big gap between people's confidence in their ability to answer the questions correctly and then how well they actually perform. I think I'm not breaking any news when I say that investor and financial literacy is relatively low. And that's concerning when it comes to some of the complex products that investors might be considering.
We asked questions about options, for example, and only 12% of all investors were able to get that question right. So, we thought, well, OK, we'll take a look at the people who say that they're invested in options. Surely, they will do better. Only 22% of them were able to answer the question correctly. So, when you think about people who are investing in a particular product, a product like options, many of them don't understand it. Half of the people that were investing in options, more than half got it wrong.
11:05 – 11:18
Margherita Beale: Thank you for sharing that, Gerri. So, we talked a bit about individual investors. So, a lot of our listeners are member firms. What are some concrete things that firms can do to help customers maintain financial security?
11:18 – 12:59
Gerri Walsh: Well, one of the things that we found is that investors want to learn. In fact, learning about investing is one of the biggest motivators for them getting into the market across all age ranges. So, where it's feasible, firms can really do a great service by providing tools and information that will help their customers understand the markets, understand products and strategies that might be available to them with their accounts. And of course, a number of our member firms are doing that already. And FINRA always stands ready to help for firms of all sizes. We've got Investor Insights articles and core content on our website, as well as tools and quizzes that you can use to help with educating investors. And while I'm not here and don't have the authority to talk about regulatory obligations, going back to what I said earlier about fees and people not understanding their investments, it would be helpful if firms can make it as easy as possible for investors to understand both the costs and the risks of the various products and strategies that they might be interested in pursuing. And of course, along with the costs and risks, you want to make sure that you're laying out the benefits and the rewards. But all of that can go a long way toward helping your clients and customers make informed choices. And then of course, you can also educate customers about good cyber hygiene practices that they can engage in to help keep their accounts and their assets secure.
12:59 – 13:09
Margherita Beale: Great. So, on the subject of cyber hygiene, how does protecting customers from cyber threats fit into this larger picture of financial security?
13:09 – 14:28
Gerri Walsh: Well, I know our member firms have seen firsthand that a successful fraud attack can wipe out years of savings and can be emotionally devastating. For as long as I've been in the field of investor education and financial capability building, the reality is that most of these account draining events happen outside the realm of regulation and are perpetrated by bad actors who are not registered with FINRA or the SEC or state regulators. So, firms can help customers recognize the importance of having strong passwords and encourage them to take advantage of any enhanced security offerings that the firm might have, like multi-factor authentication, for example. They can also help their customers learn to spot the hallmarks of financial scams and investment frauds. Frauds that range from relationship scams to imposter schemes, social media investment clubs and the like. There's a wealth of scams out there. There's also a wealth of information that FINRA has to help firms. And of course, firms can educate their customers about how to keep their accounts and their assets secure.
14:28 – 14:40
Margherita Beale: I know you touched on this a bit, but as you said, FINRA has a wealth of information. So, what are some of the resources that FINRA provides to help firms support and protect their customers?
14:40 – 15:31
Gerri Walsh: There are resources that are on the Member Hub and I encourage all firms to take a look there. Some of the investing ones deal with the frauds and scams that I was talking about and ways that firms and their registered professionals can help victims in the aftermath of financial losses through fraud because there are steps that they can take. Of course, all of the resources related to trusted contact and helping customers understand the benefit of naming a trusted contact on their account, that can go a long way to helping. But we also have research on the FINRA Foundation website, and we have articles and insights that firms are most welcome to share with their clients and customers that are on FINRA.org slash investors.
15:31 – 15:41
Margherita Beale: Great, thank you. So how do these two sort of larger themes, understanding your customer and protecting your customer, how do these two connect with each other?
15:41 – 16:18
Gerri Walsh: Knowing where customers are coming from can really help firms and reps better understand what their vulnerabilities are. It can help them identify fraud risks. And so, you hear about it a lot in the relationship investment scam where, you know, all of a sudden a customer has a new boyfriend or girlfriend or has a new person who shares a hobby with them. And that's often the seed of that kind of a fraud. And having that fundamental understanding of your customer can help you better protect.
16:18 – 16:29
Margherita Beale: Great. So where does FINRA Forward fit into this conversation and what role can firms play in this initiative around customer protection?
16:29 – 17:23
Gerri Walsh: FINRA Forward is all about modernizing our approach to regulation and as markets and technology and investor behavior change and evolve, we're sharing what we're seeing and we're learning that we can all row in the same direction toward that same goal of investor protection. No one is closer to their customers than firms and their reps. Our members are key collaborators when it comes to helping investors build and sustain lifelong financial security. And so, we encourage that two-way street. We in investor education use a lot of the information that we hear through our regulatory partners and the member firm experience partners for what firms are seeing. We're able to then respond with educational materials. So, it's a key collaboration.
17:23 – 17:35
Margherita Beale: As we close up today, if you could leave firms with one key takeaway about supporting customer financial security, what would it be?
17:35 – 17:51
Gerri Walsh: It's all about putting investors first and all of us have a role to play. Firms, regulators, financial educators, we can all help contribute to the financial security of U.S. adult investors.
17:51 – 18:15
Margherita Beale: Well, that's it for today's podcast. Gerri, thank you so much for joining us again on this important topic. Listeners, if you don't already, please be sure to subscribe to FINRA Unscripted wherever you listen to podcasts. All of the resources mentioned in today's podcast will be included on the homepage for the podcast episode. Today's episode was produced by me, Margherita Beale, and engineered by John Williams. Until next time.
18:10 – 18:31
Outro Music
18:20 – 18:54
Disclosure: Please note FINRA podcasts are the sole property of FINRA, and the information provided is for informational and educational purposes only. The content of the podcast does not constitute any FINRA Rule or amendment or interpretation to such rules. Compliance with any recommended conduct presented does not mean that a firm or person has complied with the full extent of their obligations under FINRA Rules, the rules of any other SRO or securities laws. This podcast is provided as is. FINRA and its affiliates are not responsible for any human or mechanical errors or omissions. Parties may not reproduce these podcasts in any form without the express written consent of FINRA.