This study used data from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study to analyze the adoption of mobile payments by U.S. households. While 24% of respondents used mobile payments, the mean rate for those under age 25 was 11 times the rate for those 65 and older. State rates ranged from about 9% in Montana to 34% in Washington, DC. Based on a logistic regression, age and an objective financial knowledge score were negatively while risk tolerance and a subjective financial knowledge score were positively related to mobile payment use. The results have implications for marketing of Fintech applications for personal finance, especially in terms of the extremely low mobile payment use by older consumers.

This study was intended to find out whether social media could be a solution to improve personal financial literacy and ability. The authors examined the antecedents and consequences of using social media for personal finance with survey data from 359 individuals who used social media tools to view, learn, post, or ask for financial information or advice. They found that usefulness and compatibility were two reasons why people use social media for personal finance, while ease of use and concerns/risks were not. The study also revealed that social media use for personal finance were associated with positive financial outcomes and user satisfaction, which in turn prompted users' intentions to continue using social media for personal finance in the future. These findings suggested that social media could be a legitimate and fruitful source for individuals and financial industry to improve personal financial well-being.

This article examined the relationship of household financial behaviors and accesses. Using the 2015 National Financial Capability Study, the current study conducted latent class analysis of financial behaviors to identify latent classes (N = 27,564). The distribution of access was investigated among latent classes, which were regressed on the financial behaviors of financial planning and financial spending factors and other covariates using multinomial logistic regression. After controlling for other variables, the odds of being in Thinly Banked, Limited Access, and Working Families classes instead of being in Investors class decreased by 90%, 88%, and 66% for every point higher in financial planning behavior, respectively. Results suggest that desirable financial behaviors such as planning are important for consumers with the least financial access.

This study examines the roles of internal and external search characteristics and attitudinal factors in investors' decisions to utilize robo-advisor-based platforms. Using the 2015 state-by-state National Financial Capability Study and Investor Survey, this study finds that the need to free up time, higher risk tolerance, higher subjective financial knowledge, and higher amounts of investable assets were positively associated with individual investors' adoption of robo-advisors. Additionally, the results from the interaction model indicates that individuals under 65 with a higher risk tolerance and greater perceived investment knowledge were more likely to use robo-advisors. Implications of the key findings for scholars, practitioners, and industry leaders are included.

The purpose of this article is to assess the student teachers’ capacity and willingness to teach financial literacy in Flanders via on-site paper surveys of 368 final-year teacher education students. We argue that the Flemish teacher education program needs to be revised to introduce financial education in secondary schools. We find that revisions to the program can improve student teachers’ capacity and increase their willingness to teach for financial literacy. Moreover, student teachers support such reforms. Thus, policymakers and researchers can use this article as a guideline for revising teacher education programs with respect to financial education.

Financial education is an important area of study due in part to the need for improved understanding of how to navigate an ever more complex financial decision-making environment, thus the need for effective classroom instruction. The purpose of this study is to examine a “teacher-as-learner” professional development program that is rooted in both professional development and adult education fields of study as means of providing financial education. This program educates teachers on their own personal finance, ultimately better preparing educators to teach financial literacy education. Results showed significant improvements in self-reported financial behaviors between pre- and posttests. Results suggest using contextual learning for teacher professional development because it benefits personal finances and successful teaching practices.

We use data from a Dutch data set, the DNB Household Survey, annually covering the period 1996–2015, to study the relationship between informal parental saving education received when people were children or adolescents and two variables aimed to capture adult individuals' concerns for their future: planning horizon and future orientation. Our results indicate that the general future orientation positively correlates with informal saving education, and in particular having received financial teachings. Our findings also suggest that the future orientation index is rather stable over time (which is not trivial, especially because our dataset covers two full business cycles) and declines with age following the life-cycle.

In setting a new direction for the field by highlighting the importance of measure development, this article offers an original approach to modeling financial literacy, in which theories of situated learning meet self-efficacy: an approach that we claim fits well with the aims of program evaluation. It presents results from the validation of a new set of measures, intended for use with 16- to 19-year-olds, of financial literacy self-efficacy pertaining to contexts such as the classroom or the everyday activity of personal banking. Self-efficacy implies a domain in which confidence is measured specific to that context—in this case financial literacy. The data were collected in the United Kingdom from high school and college students enrolled in an optional certificate course in personal financial management. The measures were validated on a subset (n = 171) of a larger sample and was an off-shoot project of a larger 3-year evaluation study of the financial literacy certificate course (n = 2,000), which provided additional mixed-methods data used in validation. Correlation analysis supports the contention—incorporated within the framework presented—that self-efficacy is context-specific and so measures of self-efficacy must adequately reflect the contexts in which the associated literacies reside.

This study presents a community-based financial literacy program offered to low-income families in the heart of Silicon Valley. Leveraging local financial institutions and organizations, it provided financial education and encouraged habit formation, hoping for lasting outcomes toward financial well-being. Program impact was assessed in the areas of financial knowledge gain, behavioral tendencies in financial decision-making, and self-reported personal finances. Participants showed significant improvement in key knowledge areas, with positive impact observed in behavioral tendencies such as financial goal setting. Improvements in financial outcomes were not significant. The results of this intervention illustrate that maintaining long-term impact and applying sophisticated evaluation methods present key challenges for community-based efforts focused on financial education.

Is the way that individuals make risky financial choices, or tradeoffs over time, related to demographic characteristics? This article attempts to examine whether there is a link between demographic variables, risk aversion, and impatience using a randomly drawn sample of the population in Sweden. Based on a proportional odds model, the findings show that willingness to take financial risk depends on portfolio structure, gender, age, educational attainment, income, financial stability, financial literacy, marital status, and family size. Financial counselors are encouraged to use the variables related to financial risk tolerance discussed in this article whenever developing portfolios or in calculations that require specific information about a person’s willingness to take financial risk.