Researcher

Researchers have become increasingly interested in understanding the sources of heterogeneity in individual financial behaviors. In this paper, we examine how the Big Five personality traits are related to measures of young adults’ financial distress. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health in the United States, we find that conscientiousness is negatively correlated, and neuroticism positively correlated with financial distress. These correlations are robust to controlling for early life background and other demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Planning for Retirement is a new interactive tool of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help you make an informed decision about when to claim your Social Security benefits. The tool gives you a rough estimate of your monthly benefit and shows how your monthly benefit changes depending on the age at which you claim.

We provide new and robust empirical evidence that procrastinators behave differently than non_procrastinators for five important retirement_related financial behaviors. Empirically, we define a procrastinator as an individual who waits until the last day of their health care open enrollment period to make their plan election.

Automatic enrollment has been widely embraced for raising employee participation in 401(k) plans. However, the empirical evidence is based on data with limitations that, up until now, have prevented researchers from extrapolating the effects of automatic enrollment to the broader population of workers. This paper reexamines the determinants of 401(k) participation and contributions in the presence of automatic enrollment using nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for 2006 through 2012.

The purpose of the guidance is to encourage financial institutions1 to develop and implement programs to expand the financial capability of youth and build opportunities for financial inclusion for more families. The guidance also addresses frequently asked questions that may arise as financial institutions collaborate with schools, local and state governments, non-profits, or corporate entities to facilitate youth savings and financial education programs.

PISA 2012 is the first large-scale international study to assess the financial literacy, learned in and outside of school, of 15-year-olds nearing the end of compulsory education. It assesses the extent to which students in 18 participating countries and economies have the knowledge and skills that are essential to make financial decisions and plans for their future. The assessment highlights the importance of financial literacy, defines financial education and financial literacy, and discusses how the assessment was organized.

To understand the wide range of information sources consumers could be exposed to in making financial decisions, we commissioned a study of the size and scope of the financial information field. The results give an overall indication of the relative amounts spent in the U.S. on financial education and on the marketing of certain types of financial products. The report found that for every dollar put towards financial education, $25 is spent on financial marketing, which can make it difficult for consumers to find objective information.

Under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is responsible for performing outreach activities "designed to help customers protect themselves from fraud and other violations of the CEA." As part of this effort, the CFTC developed and tested a series of messages targeting investors who are prime targets for investor fraud. Focus groups were conducted and an online survey was distributed to test the messages. Findings from both phases of this research will be used to develop messages, tone, and imagery for the CFTC's anti-fraud outreach efforts.

With support from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED), the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (CFS) and the New York City Department  of Consumer Affairs Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) partnered on a pilot program to test the effect of  pairing of financial access and an average of one to two hours of financial counseling on the financial capability of a population transitioning off of public benefits in New York City