U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.

Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.

The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Researcher

Increasing Financial Capability among Economically Vulnerable Youth: MY Path

Submitted by Admin on
The Make Your Path (MY Path) initiative provides disadvantaged youth with peer-led financial capability trainings, a savings account at a mainstream financial institution and incentives to set and meet savings goals. The program focuses on youth earning their first paycheck—a critical “teachable moment” to promote savings and connect youth with mainstream financial products.

Psychological Factors and Financial Literacy

Submitted by Admin on
Over the last several decades, there has been a well-documented trend away from defined benefit plans toward defined contribution plans, in which an employee's retirement income depends on contributions to the plan along with the investment earnings on those contributions. Current workers increasingly must decide how much to contribute to retirement plans and how to invest plan contributions.

I do…want to save: Marriage and retirement savings in young households

Submitted by Admin on
Increased policy and academic attention has been placed on promoting retirement savings early in the life course. This study investigates the extent to which retirement savings behavior among young persons, a population for which retirement savings is important but typically low, differs by marital status. We draw national survey data on young adult households (ages 22 – 35; N = 3,894) from the U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). Results reveal considerable differences by marital status.

Behavioral and psychological aspects of the retirement decision

Submitted by Admin on
The majority of research on the retirement decision has focused on the health and wealth aspects of retirement. Such research concludes that people in better health and those enjoying a higher socioeconomic status tend to work longer than their less healthy and less wealthy counterparts. While financial and health concerns are a major part of the retirement decision, there are other issues that may affect the decision to retire that are unrelated to an individual’s financial and health status.

The role of behavioral economics and behavioral decision making in Americans’ retirement savings decisions.

Submitted by Admin on
Traditional economic theory posits that people make decisions by maximizing a utility function in which all of the relevant constraints and preferences are included and weighed appropriately. Behavioral economists and decision-making researchers, however, are interested in how people make decisions in the face of incomplete information, limited cognitive resources, and decision biases.

An Overview of Contemporary Financial Education Initiatives Aimed at Minority

Submitted by Admin on
Minority groups, particularly Hispanics and Blacks, are less likely to use formal financial advice compared to their White counterparts and have lower levels of financial literacy on average. This gap in literacy may have important implications for savings, investing, and retirement planning. To better reach these groups and improve financial literacy, the literature recommends making access to financial education easier, targeting the education to the population, and delivering it through preferred methods.

A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Intermediate-term Impact of the Money Smart Financial Education Curriculum upon Consumers’ Behavior and Confidence - April 2007:

Submitted by Admin on
This study analyzes the impact of the FDIC’s Money Smart financial education curriculum and training on the financial opinions and behaviors of course participants. The study collected data from 631 adult respondents who experienced some portion of the Money Smart program during 2004-2005 and also completed a pre-training survey, post-training survey, and telephone follow-up survey. The data indicate that Money Smart financial education training positively affected consumer behaviors as measured through self-reported responses to survey questions 6-12 months after completing the training.

Financial Literacy and Subprime Mortgage Delinquency: Evidence from a Survey Matched to Administrative Data

Submitted by Admin on
The exact cause of the massive defaults and foreclosures in the U.S. subprime mortgage market is still unclear. This paper investigates whether a particular aspect of borrowers' financial literacy—their numerical ability—may have played a role. We measure several aspects of financial literacy and cognitive ability in a survey of subprime mortgage borrowers who took out mortgages in 2006 or 2007 and match these measures to objective data on mortgage characteristics and repayment performance.

Financial Education for a Stable Financial Future

Submitted by Admin on
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.

Do Borrower Rights Improve Borrower Outcomes? Evidence from the Foreclosure Process

Submitted by Admin on
We evaluate laws designed to protect borrowers from foreclosure. We find that these laws delay but do not prevent foreclosures. We first compare states that require lenders to seek judicial permission to foreclose with states that do not. Borrowers in judicial states are no more likely to cure and no more likely to renegotiate their loans, but the delays lead to a build-up in these states of persistently delinquent borrowers, the vast majority of whom eventually lose their homes. We next analyze a "right-to-cure" law instituted in Massachusetts on May 1, 2008.