IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v40y2019i2d10.1007_s10834-018-9595-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial Knowledge and Short-Term and Long-Term Financial Behaviors of Millennials in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Kyoung Tae Kim

    (University of Alabama)

  • Somer G. Anderson

    (Maryville University)

  • Martin C. Seay

    (Kansas State University)

Abstract

This study investigates the role of financial knowledge in various short-term and long-term financial behaviors among Millennials in the United States. Results from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) indicate that Millennials have lower levels of objective financial knowledge and similar levels of perceived financial knowledge as compared to all households. Consistent multivariate results find financial knowledge to be positively associated with performing positive short-term and long-term financial behaviors. Results are found to be robust across different measurements of financial knowledge and behavior, and the issue of the potential for reverse causality is specifically addressed. This study provides a comprehensive financial profile of Millennials with important insight for policymakers as well as financial practitioners.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyoung Tae Kim & Somer G. Anderson & Martin C. Seay, 2019. "Financial Knowledge and Short-Term and Long-Term Financial Behaviors of Millennials in the United States," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 194-208, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:40:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10834-018-9595-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-018-9595-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10834-018-9595-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-018-9595-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel Fernandes & John G. Lynch & Richard G. Netemeyer, 2014. "Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and Downstream Financial Behaviors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 1861-1883, August.
    2. van Rooij, Maarten & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Financial literacy and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 449-472, August.
    3. Herbert Simon, 2000. "Bounded rationality in social science: Today and tomorrow," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 1(1), pages 25-39, March.
    4. Zhong Chu & Zhengwei Wang & Jing Jian Xiao & Weiqiang Zhang, 2017. "Financial Literacy, Portfolio Choice and Financial Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 799-820, June.
    5. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2007. "Baby Boomer retirement security: The roles of planning, financial literacy, and housing wealth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 205-224, January.
    6. Margaret Miller & Julia Reichelstein & Christian Salas & Bilal Zia, 2015. "Can You Help Someone Become Financially Capable? A Meta-Analysis of the Literature," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 220-246.
    7. Cliff A. Robb & Patryk Babiarz & Ann Woodyard & Martin C. Seay, 2015. "Bounded Rationality and Use of Alternative Financial Services," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(2), pages 407-435, July.
    8. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2017. "How Ordinary Consumers Make Complex Economic Decisions: Financial Literacy and Retirement Readiness," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-31, September.
    9. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    10. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2005. "Financial Literacy and Planning: Implications for Retirement Wellbeing," CeRP Working Papers 46, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).
    11. James P. Smith & John J. McArdle & Robert Willis, 2010. "Financial Decision Making and Cognition in a Family Context," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(548), pages 363-380, November.
    12. James P. Smith & John J. McArdle & Robert Willis, 2010. "Financial Decision Making and Cognition in a Family Context," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(548), pages 363-380, November.
    13. Terri Friedline & Stacia West, 2016. "Financial Education is not Enough: Millennials May Need Financial Capability to Demonstrate Healthier Financial Behaviors," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 649-671, December.
    14. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2017. "Older Women's Labor Market Attachment, Retirement Planning, and Household Debt," NBER Chapters, in: Women Working Longer: Increased Employment at Older Ages, pages 185-215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Sam Allgood & William B. Walstad, 2016. "The Effects Of Perceived And Actual Financial Literacy On Financial Behaviors," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(1), pages 675-697, January.
    16. Justine S. Hastings & Brigitte C. Madrian & William L. Skimmyhorn, 2013. "Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and Economic Outcomes," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 347-373, May.
    17. Kyoung Tae Kim & Martin C. Seay & Hyrum L. Smith, 2016. "After the great recession : financial sophistication and housing leverage," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(18), pages 1285-1288, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rey-Ares, Lucía & Fernández-López, Sara & Castro-González, Sandra & Rodeiro-Pazos, David, 2021. "Does self-control constitute a driver of millennials’ financial behaviors and attitudes?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Lu Fan & Robin Henager, 2022. "A Structural Determinants Framework for Financial Well-Being," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 415-428, June.
    3. Jing Jian Xiao & Kyoung Tae Kim, 2022. "The Able Worry More? Debt Delinquency, Financial Capability, and Financial Stress," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 138-152, March.
    4. Johnson Antwi & Cephas B. Naanwaab, 2022. "Generational Differences, Risk Tolerance, and Ownership of Financial Securities: Evidence from the United States," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-17, May.
    5. Ashley B. LeBaron & Heather H. Kelley, 2021. "Financial Socialization: A Decade in Review," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 195-206, July.
    6. Sara Fernández-López & Marcos à lvarez-Espiño & Lucía Rey-Ares, 2023. "A Comprehensive Approach to Measuring Financial Vulnerability and Literacy: Unveiling Connections," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    7. Jeanne Laure Mawad & Seyed Alireza Athari & Danielle Khalife & Nouhad Mawad, 2022. "Examining the Impact of Financial Literacy, Financial Self-Control, and Demographic Determinants on Individual Financial Performance and Behavior: An Insight from the Lebanese Crisis Period," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-17, November.
    8. Man Yao & Tori I. Rehr & Erica P. Regan, 2023. "Gender Differences in Financial Knowledge among College Students: Evidence from a Recent Multi-institutional Survey," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 693-713, September.
    9. Sandra Castro-González & Sara Fernández-López & Lucía Rey-Ares & David Rodeiro-Pazos, 2020. "The Influence of Attitude to Money on Individuals’ Financial Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 747-764, April.
    10. Rodriguez-Raga, Santiago & Martinez-Camelo, Natalia, 2022. "Game, guide or website for financial education improvement: Evidence from an experiment in Colombian schools," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    11. Shekinah E. Dare & Wilco W. Dijk & Eric Dijk & Lotte F. Dillen & Marcello Gallucci & Olaf Simonse, 2023. "How Executive Functioning and Financial Self-efficacy Predict Subjective Financial Well-Being via Positive Financial Behaviors," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 232-248, June.
    12. Khanh Duy Pham & Vu Linh Toan Le, 2023. "Nexus between Financial Education, Literacy, and Financial Behavior: Insights from Vietnamese Young Generations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Christi R. Wann & Lisa A. Burke-Smalley, 2023. "Attributes of Households that Engage in Higher Levels of Family Financial Planning," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 98-113, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gerrans, Paul, 2021. "Undergraduate student financial education interventions: Medium term evidence of retention, decay, and confidence in financial literacy," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Bannier, Christina E. & Schwarz, Milena, 2018. "Gender- and education-related effects of financial literacy and confidence on financial wealth," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 66-86.
    3. Sholevar, Maryam & Harris, Laurence, 2019. "Mind the gap: A discussion paper on Financial Literacy, Financial behaviour and Financial Education : Is there any Gender Gap?," OSF Preprints b7zd6, Center for Open Science.
    4. Oscar A. Stolper & Andreas Walter, 2017. "Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 581-643, July.
    5. Anderson, Anders & Baker, Forest & Robinson, David T., 2017. "Precautionary savings, retirement planning and misperceptions of financial literacy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 383-398.
    6. Manuel Salas‐Velasco & Dolores Moreno‐Herrero & José Sánchez‐Campillo, 2021. "Teaching financial education in schools and students' financial literacy: A cross‐country analysis with PISA data," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 4077-4103, July.
    7. Li, Xiao, 2020. "When financial literacy meets textual analysis: A conceptual review," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    8. Cordero, José Manuel & Gil, María & Pedraja Chaparro, Francisco, 2016. "Exploring the effect of financial literacy courses on student achievement: a cross-country approach using PISA 2012 data," MPRA Paper 75474, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Tim Kaiser & Lukas Menkhoff, 2017. "Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior, and If So, When?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 31(3), pages 611-630.
    10. Paul Gerrans & Richard Heaney, 2019. "The impact of undergraduate personal finance education on individual financial literacy, attitudes and intentions," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(1), pages 177-217, March.
    11. Youngwon Nam & Cäzilia Loibl, 2021. "Financial Capability and Financial Planning at the Verge of Retirement Age," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 133-150, March.
    12. Balasubramnian, Bhanu & Sargent, Carol Springer, 2020. "Impact of inflated perceptions of financial literacy on financial decision making," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    13. Zhou, Yang & Yang, Manfang & Gan, Xu, 2023. "Education and financial literacy: Evidence from compulsory schooling law in China," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 335-346.
    14. Sconti, Alessia, 2022. "Digital vs. in-person financial education: What works best for Generation Z?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 300-318.
    15. Marie-Hélène BROIHANNE, 2021. "Testing the gender gap in subjective financial literacy of spouses," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2021-08, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
    16. Azra Zaimovic & Anes Torlakovic & Almira Arnaut-Berilo & Tarik Zaimovic & Lejla Dedovic & Minela Nuhic Meskovic, 2023. "Mapping Financial Literacy: A Systematic Literature Review of Determinants and Recent Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-30, June.
    17. Kamer Karakurum-Ozdemir & Melike Kokkizil & Gokce Uysal, 2019. "Financial Literacy in Developing Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 325-353, May.
    18. Florian Deuflhard & Dimitris Georgarakos & Roman Inderst, 2019. "Financial Literacy and Savings Account Returns," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 131-164.
    19. Grohmann, Antonia, 2018. "Financial literacy and financial behavior: Evidence from the emerging Asian middle class," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 129-143.
    20. Meta Brown & John Grigsby & Wilbert van der Klaauw & Jaya Wen & Basit Zafar, 2016. "Financial Education and the Debt Behavior of the Young," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(9), pages 2490-2522.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial literacy; Financial knowledge; Financial education; Financial behaviors; Millennials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:40:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10834-018-9595-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.