Can you answer these three money questions? Most American adults can't, and it turns out that whether you ever learned this stuff in school depended largely on where you grew up.
Good coverage of the financial literacy challenges we face. Over the year working in this area I have struggled with a couple of things. 1. The low rates of emergency fund access. Every financial expert lists that on the top of the list of first things to do. If that’s missing, I wonder how much more fail at. 2. The big 3 and big 5 are now stables in financial literacy measures. I am not convinced they measure financial literacy well. They are correlated with optimal financial behaviors, so I guess they work
I really struggle with policy issues around this topic because I know how much work has gone into improving financial literacy, but we don't see much change in overall knowledge or even behavior.
I will admit that on the emergency fund question, I do wonder how many people have them but don't think of them as emergency funds. Does that matter? I had built up savings, but I never thought of them as an emergency fund. If I had been surveyed about it, I think I would have answered that I didn't have one.
Good coverage of the financial literacy challenges we face. Over the year working in this area I have struggled with a couple of things. 1. The low rates of emergency fund access. Every financial expert lists that on the top of the list of first things to do. If that’s missing, I wonder how much more fail at. 2. The big 3 and big 5 are now stables in financial literacy measures. I am not convinced they measure financial literacy well. They are correlated with optimal financial behaviors, so I guess they work
I really struggle with policy issues around this topic because I know how much work has gone into improving financial literacy, but we don't see much change in overall knowledge or even behavior.
I will admit that on the emergency fund question, I do wonder how many people have them but don't think of them as emergency funds. Does that matter? I had built up savings, but I never thought of them as an emergency fund. If I had been surveyed about it, I think I would have answered that I didn't have one.