In a survey about financial planning, public speaking was ranked 10th out of 15 general and financial fears

On July 24th Nationwide Financial released the results from their Fear of Financial Planning Consumer Study. They had Harris Interactive survey 783 American adults (who currently had $100,000 or more of investable assets) between March 26th and April 3rd. Participants were asked about five general fears and ten financial fears.

As shown above, out of five general fears, the most common was skydiving (81%), followed by investing in the stock market (62%), dying (58%), public speaking (57%), and losing my job (37%). Slightly more people feared death than public speaking.

As also shown above, the most common general and financial fear was that there will be another financial crisis (83%), which even outranked skydiving (81%). (Click on the bar chart for a larger, clearer image). Public speaking only was ranked 10th out of those 15 general and financial fears, very far from the typical claim that it is number one.