MyMoney Resources - Researcher

This article provides a plain-language description of behavioral economics and the role of common biases in financial decisionmaking, and reviews ways in which the findings of behavioral economics can help structure financial education and public policy.

This article presents best practices and lessons learnt from on the experiences of the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE), a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan and noncommercial foundation committed to increas- ing access to financial education and to empowering in- dividuals to make positive and sound financial decision. These lessons include tailoring programs to the needs of different market segments; delivering education continuously through different life stages and at "teachable moments"; recognizing the importance of partnerships; paying attention to the repetition and targeting of messages and focusing on evaluation and behavioral change.

This article provides a brief overview of the field of financial education and explores some of the challenges and potential solutions. The author describes developments in the contemporary financial education movement since the 1990s and the background economic changes that stimulated its growth; reviews currently available financial education initiatives for youth and adults and discusses the evidence about its effectiveness as well as broader challenges for the field. The article concludes by highlighting both general and specific examples of efforts to move the field forward.

This article discusses the results of and lessons learnt from the Financial Opportunities Project (FOP), a comprehensive effort by the Center for Economic Progress identify, implement, and disseminate strategies for integrating financial services and asset-building opportunities with community-based tax-preparation services at IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites. The goal of the FOP was that 15 percent of tax clients would take on an asset building service, an improvement from the 8-12 percent take-up rate achieved in past pilot studies by the Center and tests on the take-up of savings matches or Savings Bonds. The Center developed the Asset Building Service Delivery System (ABSDS)—a process-based model for offering asset-building products and services to clients served by community-based programs. The components of the ABSDS include 1) strategic program planning around asset promotion, 2) simplicity in process design, 3) specialization of staff to promote assets, 4) specific and targeted promotional strategies, and 5) customer-focused processes. From the fall of 2008 through the end of the 2009 tax season, the Center oversaw the national launch of the ABSDS and awarded three programs grants to assess the effectiveness and versatility of the op- erational models and programmatic guides of the ABSDS. To the extent programs adapted the model and tested new ideas, this season provided an opportunity to further refine the ABSDS. Overall, take-up rates surpassed expectations, with almost 27 percent of clients enrolled in at least one service. The article provides a more detailed overview of the FOP findings and identifies recommendations for improved delivery of asset building services, concluding that such tax programs can effectively include simple messages and financial education to encourage savings and improve financial management skills.

This article summarizes a Federal Reserve Board research study focusing on the effectiveness of a financial education program for military personnel. Soldiers attending the Army’s air defender advanced individualized training (AIT) at Ft. Bliss were offered a two-day financial education course taught by staff from San Diego City College. The study explored changes in behaviors between a baseline from 2006-2008 and a followup in 2008 and 2009, comparing those who took the course and those who did not with respect to six topics covered in the course: budgeting, credit, consumer awareness, car buying, insurance, and retirement savings using the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a 401(k)-type retirement savings and investment plan for federal employees and the military. The financial education program was found to have some positive effects on soldiers’ financial management behaviors over the longer term. Soldiers who had the financial education course were more likely than the comparison group to report using an informal spending plan, suggesting they kept some sort of ‘mental account’ of how much they could afford to spend (as opposed to doing nothing). However, these soldiers were less likely to report using a formal, written budget, relative to the comparison group. Also, those who took the course were more likely to know the difference between discretionary and non-discretionary spending—in other words, they understood the difference between spend- ing money on needs versus wants. When buying a car, those who took the financial education course had higher down payment-to-loan ratios than those in the comparison group. The article also discusses implications for program design to improve the relevance and retention of information.

This article provides an overview of bank-based financial education. The role of banks more generally is reviewed, and examples of Marshall and Isley (M&I) Bank's Consumer Education (CE) program are discussed. Evaluation methods used by M&I are described. Key factors for success include clearly defined priorities, a standardized high-quality curriculum, appropriately designed delivery, well-integrated assessment and evaluation, effective community partnerships and a willingness to provide supporting tools.

Abstract: We examine 401(k) borrowing since 1992 and identify a puzzle: despite potential gains from borrowing against 401(k) assets instead of from other sources, most eligible households eschew 401(k) loans, including many who carry relatively expensive balances on credit cards and auto loans. We estimate that households with access to 401(k) loans could have saved about $3.3 billion in 2004--about $200 per household--by shifting debt to 401(k) loans. We find that liquidity constrained households are most likely to borrow against their accounts; however, the fastest growth has been among higher income, less liquidity constrained households. From 1992 to 2004, we do not find significantly different growth in wealth between households eligible for loans and those ineligible for loans. The recent tightening of terms and standards in mortgage and consumer lending has likely increased 401(k) borrowing, which could improve household balance sheets, if handled correctly. However, the improvement could be short-lived if the economic downturn leads to reduced contributions or significantly higher 401(k) loan defaults.

Despite the growing importance of housing counseling, there is little systematic information about the industry. The industry is known to be marked by significant diversity in a number of dimensions, including the types of organizations involved, their organizational capacity, the types of clients served, the types of services delivered, and the funding sources used. The primary goal of this study is to provide a systematic overview of the housing counseling industry as of 2007. The study covers all types of education and counseling services, including services for people seeking to purchase homes, for existing homeowners, for renters, and for people experiencing homelessness. A secondary goal is to investigate the challenges facing the industry and how HUD can best support the availability of good quality housing education and counseling. The study draws on four distinct data sources to provide a multifaceted exploration of the housing counseling industry: In-depth interviews with national and regional intermediary organizations and state housing finance agencies that support the housing counseling industry; a detailed survey of all HUD-approved counseling agencies conducted over the Internet with telephone follow-up; analysis of program data maintained by HUD, including aggregate information on clients and outcomes submitted by counseling agencies via the annual HUD 9902 report, and information on applications for funding and amounts awarded; and Extraction of data from successful grant applications on counselor qualifications.

The Social Security trust fund is predicted to be depleted by 2041. While there are several viable reform proposals to restore long-term solvency of the Social Security system, one important element that is critical to the success of any reform remains unknown: how will individuals respond to, for example, a cut of their Social Security benefits. Will they work longer or save more or both, and to what extent will their response make up for the cut in benefits? In this paper we use data from the HRS Internet Survey where we asked respondents directly what they would do if everyone’s Social Security benefits were cut by 30 percent. At a qualitative level, we find important differences in the response by sex, marital status, and SES, among others. We conduct a detailed quantitative analysis of response to timing of Social security claiming and find that on average individuals would postpone claiming Social Security by 1.13 years. If this time was spent working by everyone then the annual Social Security benefit would drop on average by 20 percent rather than the initial 30 percent imposed by the reform. In other words the response to claim later and work longer would make up for one third of the initial cut in Social Security benefits.

In 2008, the SEC commissioned a survey to evaluate "plain English" rules approved in 1998 with the goal of making mandated disclosures simpler, clearer and more useuful. Abt SBRI conducted the telephone survey on a national sample of 1000 adults who invested in stocks, bonds and/or mutual funds outside an employer-sponsored reitrement plan. The survey found that many investors do not read disclosure documents and those who do, spend relatively little time on them. Overall satisfaction was mixed. Key issues reported included excessive jargon, confusion over the information content and intent of disclosures,poor investment literacy and a demand for web-based delivery. It was not possible to determine whether disclosure had improved due to the lack of baseline data