Two thirds of middle-class Americans acknowledge making a costly financial decision, but a majority rate their ability to handle finances as good or excellent and and would not use advice from a financial professional.

The seemingly contradictory results were presented by Consumer Federation of America, a coalition of consumer nonprofit organizations, and Primerica, a distributor of financial products to middle Americans.

The study, entitled The Financial Status and Decision-Making of the American Middle Class, paints a "gloomy picture" of the finances of those earning between approximately $40,000 and $100,000 a year, according to John Addison, co-CEO of Primerica, based in Duluth, Ga., who spoke about the report at the National Press Club today. CFA and Primerica analyzed surveys from the Federal Reserve Board and by ORC International, a market research organization, to reach their conclusions.

Two thirds of the respondents admitted they had made a "really bad financial decision in the past" and nearly half said they had made more than one with an average cost of $23,000.

Yet respondents ranked as "good to excellent" their ability to budget income (81 percent), to manage credit card debt (81 percent)' to save for retirement (63 percent) and to purchase a mortgage (67 percent).

The analysis showed that middle-class Americans are more risk averse than those with higher incomes. If given $1 million to invest for retirement, only 21 percent of middle-class Americans would invest in stocks, bonds or mutual funds, compared with 48 percent of those with incomes above $100,000. Some 19 percent of middle-class citizens would put most of their money in a savings account and 25 percent would invest in real estate.

Less than half, 45 percent, said they would use information from a financial professional and 17 percent said they would not seek any advice for financial decisions. Fifteen percent said they would rely on television, the Internet or publications.

"Considering their past mistakes and the complexity of the financial services marketplace, we were surprised at how highly most middle-class Americans rate their ability to make a variety of financial decisions and how infrequently they rely on information from the Internet or publications," says Stephen Brobeck, CFA executive director.

This is at the same time that most middle-class Americans finances are considered "challenging." In 2010, the typical middle-class family had financial assets, including retirement savings but not including pensions, of $27,300, which was 28 percent less than the $37,800 held in 2007.

"Middle-class Americans need more education about finances and more access to financial representatives," Addison says. "Representatives are going to have to go to the consumers with the needed information."

Too many advisors now concentrate on the wealthy rather than the middle class, who need to accumulate savings but who are going to tend to procrastinate about asking for financial advice, he says.

-Karen DeMasters