A new report from Aite Group says that the growth of personalfinancial management use among American consumers has not metexpectations.

A recent survey by the Boston-based research and advisory firmfound that 58% of U.S. consumers have not used online PFM tools anddon't plan to. Another 14% said they plan to. Fifteen percent ofthose surveyed said they use PFM tools exclusively at their creditunion or bank site, while the rest said they use them either at anon-financial institution site or at multiple types of sites.

The September report's author, Ron Shevlin, recalls a report the firm did on the hot topic ofPFM in early 2010, and observed, “Roll the clock forward to 2012,and many industry publications and conference sessions still talkabout the 'promise' of PFM.

“(Yet), more than 10 years after financial institutionsbegan implementing online PFM capabilities to help their customerscreate and manage budgets, categorize and forecast spending, andview budgets and spending in pretty charts and graphs, the promiseof PFM has yet to be realized.”

But why? In the report, titled “Strategies for PFM Success,”Shevlin cites two primary reasons for slim uptake of PFM: Lack ofinvolvement in the management of their finances (he noted that onlyfour in 10 of the respondents manage their household budget in waysthat include categorization of spending ), and that only 13% wanttheir primary financial institution to help manage theirfinances.

“Almost half of all Americans … say they don't look to theirprimary FI for help managing their finances and therefore don'tcare if the FI offers tools to help them do so,” Shevlin wrote.

The report then details how PFM users are more engaged withtheir financial institutions, to the benefit of consumer and FIalike, and how banks and credit unions can encourage heavier use ofthe online PFM offerings.

Shevlin's list of recommendations included better integration of PFM tools with advice and guidance,improving the interface itself to make it easier to use, enhancingsocial media engagement, and creating targeted mobile apps.

The percentage of users by age group breaks definitely to theyounger set. Aite Group said 44% of PFM users are in Gen Y,28% in Gen X, 16% are Baby Boomers and 15% are seniors.

The results are based on surveys of 1,115 American consumers inthe second quarter of 2012, the think firm said.

The sample of 1,115 consumers was recruited to represent theoverall age, income, geographic, and gender distribution of theUnited States. The data have a margin of error of 3 points at the95% level of confidence, Aite Group said.