Title
Financial Counseling, Financial Literacy, and Household Decision Making
Document Type
Working Paper
Date of this Version
10-1-2010
Abstract
The recent financial crisis has brought renewed attention to household financial decision-making and highlighted the need for improving financial literacy. In this chapter, we survey the current literature on financial literacy. We evaluate the evidence on the effectiveness of education programs in improving participants’ financial choices and outcomes. We pay particular attention to whether the impact of educational programs results from increases in literacy or from auxiliary influences. Overall, it appears that some education programs are associated with improved financial outcomes; however it is difficult to differentiate the factors contributing to this improvement.
Working Paper Number
WP2010-34
Copyright/Permission Statement
Opinions and conclusions are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect views of the institutions supporting the research, with whom the authors are affiliated, or the Pension Research Council. Copyright 2010 © Pension Research Council of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
Date Posted: 07 August 2019
Comments
The published version of this Working Paper may be found in the 2011 publication: Financial Literacy: Implications for Retirement Security and the Financial Marketplace.