Financial Literacy

Many Americans lack the personal finance knowledge needed for sound financial decision making.

Millennials comprise 35% of the U.S. labor force and by 2019 are expected to surpass Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest generation. So their financial capability matters greatly to the U.S. economy.

Financial literacy undoubtedly plays an important role in decision making, but the associated mechanisms are complex and mediated by a variety of factors.

Financial knowledge has been shown to correlate strongly with financial outcomes. So what’s the state of the nation’s financial literacy?

Procrastination keeps employees at the default contribution rate, but only in “opt-out” plans.

Procrastination keeps employees at the default contribution rate, but only in “opt-out” plans.

Highly educated people with relatively high expected lifetime earnings are often assumed to have greater financial acumen than the general population. But is this a safe assumption?

Economists typically gauge the value of financial education by examining how it affects consumer behaviors. But the best financial choices for consumers depend on a mix of objective facts and subjective judgments – and one size rarely fits all.

Using data from the first wave of the TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index, this report examines financial literacy among Hispanic adults in the United States.