Your Financially Savvy Friend Could Save You $500 a Year

The best money advice might already be sitting in your group chat. According to a new survey commissioned by TaxSlayer Pro and conducted by Talker Research, Americans who lean on a financially savvy friend for money guidance estimate they save nearly five hundred dollars a year because of it. The poll surveyed two thousand U.S. taxpayers and found that when money gets confusing, a lot of people ask someone they know instead of a professional advisor or a search engine.

The numbers are specific. Of the people who say they have a 'financial expert' friend, nearly a third consult their financially savvy friend all the time. The average estimated saving came in just below that mark, while one in seven respondents said following a friend's advice had saved them more than eight hundred. More than a third of Americans think every friend group needs a designated financial guru, as reported by the New York Post. The Post put the precise average at $482.10, which makes the nearly-five-hundred framing look conservative rather than hyped.

Taxes top the list of topics friends actually cover. Among respondents who see themselves as the financially savvy friend in their circle, roughly a third have walked friends through filing a tax return, making tax prep the most common subject shared. Investing and improving credit scores follow close behind, with savings accounts and credit cards also ranking high. Half of the people who feel confident about their own tax-filing skills have already helped friends or family prepare an actual return.

Gen Z keeps showing up as the money friend

One of the more surprising results is generational. Nearly six in ten Gen Z respondents said friends come to them for money advice, making them the most common financial fallback of any age group. One in six Americans overall believe they are the financially savvy friend in their own circle, and they are not shy about it: more than a third wish their friends would ask them for guidance even more often.

That confidence runs deep. Two in five of the self-described money experts feel good enough about their advice that they would consider turning it into actual work, including filing taxes for others professionally. 'Financial matters can get confusing fast, so it makes sense that people turn to someone they trust,' said Richard Marshall, Director of Sales at TaxSlayer Pro, in the release. 'That's really what tax pros do every day, helping people understand and make informed decisions about their situation.'

How the group-chat money circle actually works

The survey paints a clear picture of what a financially savvy friend actually does. The top topics are practical and repeatable: how to file taxes, how to invest, how to improve a credit score, which savings account to use, and how credit cards really work. These are questions with right answers, and they are the same questions tax professionals answer all day.

If your circle already has a go-to money person, the practical move is to make that dynamic intentional instead of accidental. Ask them how they picked their savings account, what they did before filing their first return, or which credit mistake they wish they had avoided. A financially savvy friend is most useful as a shortcut through other people's trial and error, and respondents say the payoff shows up in real dollars.

The savings figures are self-reported estimates, which means they measure what people believe they gained rather than audited bank statements. Even so, the pattern is consistent: people place real value on advice they can act on, coming from someone who has already done the thing. TaxSlayer Pro commissioned the study partly to argue that tax professionals do this same job at a formal level, but the headline finding stands on its own. A financially savvy friend who has survived a messy first tax return or climbed out of credit card debt is a free, motivated tutor with receipts. For anyone who is already that person in the group, the survey is a reminder that the bar is not credentials, it is simply being willing to explain what you did.

Source links: TaxSlayer Pro survey release via PR Newswire and TaxSlayer Pro's breakdown of the findings.