They say money talks. If so, it might say to Americans, “Don’tbe afraid of me! I’m here to help!”

Maybe, if money could also read and saw the results of a surveyby Lincoln Financial. The results, distilled from input from morethan 2,500 U.S. adults, shows that more Americans are essentiallygripped by fear of money than are comfortable with theirrelationship to it. But even more fascinating is the nearlyone-quarter of respondents who don’t even know how theythink about money. That seems like fear disguised as denial.

The survey was designed to tease out differences in attitudetoward money among everyone’s three favorite generational groups: millennials, GenXers and boomers. In fact, the three groups weren’t as far apart intheir responses as one might have imagined. When compared tooverall responses, they were surprisingly in alignment.

The big picture: 36 percent of all respondents said they were“in control and confident” in their relationship with money.Another 40 percent said they were not. (The huge herd of “I don’tknowers” came in at 24 percent.)

When broken down by the age groups, here’s what popped up:

I am in control and confident with regard to money:”

• Millennials: 40 percent

• Gen-Xers: 33 percent

• Baby boomers: 34.5 percent

I am not in control of my relationship with money:

• Millennials: 38 percent

• Gen-Xers: 44 percent

• Baby boomers: 38 percent

If one assumes that, in the majority of cases, millennials wereraised by boomers, one could conclude that these two groups havehad talks around money and came to a bit of a consensus. TheGen-Xers perhaps just need a parental figure to help calm theirfears.

But, when it comes to where folks get their financial advice,“young boomers,” Gen-Xers and millennials all ask friends andfamily first. Millennials have a slightly greater tendency to seekguidance from their employers, and about a quarter of all threegroups say they visit a financial services website for input.