The PFW Scale™ is an eight item survey, which is a reliable measurement of perceived financial distress/financial well-being. It provides the user with a score, which has been scientifically determined to be a valid and reliable measure of one’s perceived personal financial wellness, as well as measure for employees learning progress during the financial literacy
The Center on Business and Poverty has a separate non-profit called the Personal Finance Employee Education Fund (PFEEF), which focuses on assisting people as they take ownership of their financial well-being. Click above for more on PFEEF.
As part of accomplishing this mission, PFEEF recently won a $970,000 grant to help deliver proven
Every three years, the Federal Reserve conducts a survey of consumer finances, collecting information about family income, net worth, balance sheet components, credit use and other financial outcomes. The results of this survey were published in late September with some surprising results.
During the three years covered, real gross domestic product grew at an
While 75% of Americans consider themselves financially savvy, 36% don’t know how, or prefer not, to answer basic financial literacy questions, according to KeyBank’s 2020 Financial Wellness Survey. This Financial Capability Month, Americans are facing new and unprecedented wellness challenges—both financial and health related—due to the spread of COVID-19. With temporary
Throughout April we
Americans would have gladly swapped out a math class or two in order to receive a better education when it came to their own personal finances, according to new research. A third of millennials would have cut geometry from their school curriculum in favor of personal finance — and other common classes respondents would boot
It’s been argued that the proliferation of user-friendly, highly accessible fintech tools has helped bridge the financial wellness gap in the U.S. However, the widespread lack of financial literacy here has remained a stubborn obstacle to financial inclusion. While new, mobile-based apps and offerings have led to increased participation among natural savers and investors and the more
The most cheerful people on the planet are about to get some help managing their finances.
In Finland, which topped the most recent UN world happiness report, the central bank is drawing up a financial literacy strategy for citizens.
The idea, conceived in a country that outperforms much of the rich world in education, is to figure
If you’re going to spend money on a benefit for your employees, it needs to actually work. So many wellness programs just blow smoke. They either don’t give employees the right tools to succeed, or they give them a false sense of control with gimmicks and information that don’t actually make an
The way we buy things nowadays has changed in the past years. If 50 years ago you could buy food or clothes only with cash, now you have a lot of other options. You can have multiple bank and credit cards to use when online shopping. But having access to so many financial resources can
The paradox of the current 10-year economic expansion is that so many people haven’t seen much financial progress despite a generally favorable backdrop. Jobs are plentiful, but many people aren’t enjoying higher incomes — either that or they’re being squeezed by rising costs and increased debts.
Other Americans engage in poor financial behaviors that make increased affluence
Financial wellness differs from financial literacy. Clearly, Financial Wellness and financial literacy are not the same things. Surprised? This author was, too. But it turns out there’s a major difference between being financially literate and achieving financial well-being.
Essentially, there are some of the fundamental differences between financial literacy and financial wellness. Financial literacy means the
Working Americans, by their own admission, struggle to save for retirement. Only 36 percent say they’re banking enough.
Stanford economist Gopi Shah Goda, through her analyses of 401(k)s and other employer-sponsored retirement plans, has been unearthing roots of inertia in saving decisions and shining a light on what can be done about it.
In
The disconnect between consumers’ self-perceptions and the reality of their financial health is striking, and suggests that financial services need to be doing something different. Findings from a recent Ernst and Young study—infused with insights from behavioral economics—point toward an exciting new path forward. Digital and mobile delivery, social media, gamification
Throughout school, students learn advanced mathematical and chemical equations, American history, art, music and English. But most Americans never learn how to properly manage money. Debt is an accepted part of most people’s lives. Thirty percent of Americans have no long-term financial plan. Some have a tendency to spend money when and where they
The vast majority of workers under the age of 34 lack basic knowledge about their 401(k) retirement plans, according to the new Financial Wellness in the Workplace Study from Fisher Investments 401(k) Solutions.
The report surveyed 1,000 employees at companies with between five and 350 workers on their retirement knowledge and preparedness, and found that 84%
It’s been a decade since the Great Recession’s upheaval, and while some measures of Americans’ economic well-being have recovered like the unemployment rate, their financial literacy isn’t one of them.
Between 2009 and 2018, there was an 8% slip in the amount of people who could correctly answer most questions about interest rates, inflation, bond prices,
As the gap between the Haves and the Have-nots continues to widen, cash-strapped Americans are failing to save money, struggling with student loan debt and facing decreasing financial literacy, despite economic growth and declining unemployment over the past 10 years, according to new research from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation (FINRA Foundation). The study, “
With bipartisanship in short supply, Congress must search for areas in which cooperation is both possible and beneficial for the health of our nation—and financial literacy would be a wise place to start. The lack of financial literacy is blind to politics. It affects young and old, rural and urban, and every ethnicity, gender and creed.
About this time each year, I expect the predictable articles proclaiming that personal finance education doesn’t work. Pundits point to poor proficiency in financial literacy “tests,” and programs that show minimal change in consumer’s behaviors to support their position. They assert this education is useless, ineffective and a waste of time, and we should stop spending
