The purpose of this study was to examine the association between myopic time discounting and financial well-being moderated by financial knowledge, guided by the dual-self theory. Regression results with data from the 2016 National Financial Well-Being Survey sponsored by the Consumer Financial...

This study explores financial knowledge patterns from 2009 to 2018, focusing on objective and subjective knowledge, overconfidence in financial knowledge, and “Don’t know” responses. We used four waves of National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) datasets. Objective financial knowledge...

Economists conducting normative analyses of household financial decisions typically assume specific values of parameters of the household utility function. We review 12 normative analyses and discuss justifications for the personal discount rates assumed. None of the normative articles cited an...

Previous retirement adequacy studies have ignored expected retirement income stages. Ignoring retirement income stages results in biased estimations of retirement adequacy. This study analyzes retirement income stage theoretically and then empirically. Based on the 1995 to 2007 Survey of...

This study uses a combination of six Survey of Consumer Finances data sets to examine whether factors affecting credit delinquency differ by the racial/ethnic identity of households. Hispanic households are less likely than white households, and white households were less likely than African...

Assessment of risk tolerance is fundamental to proper asset allocation within a household portfolio. It is also a frequently misunderstood concept and difficult to measure practically. We discuss the relationship between risk aversion and portfolio recommendations based on an expected utility...

We examined the association between financial knowledge overconfidence and the perception of emergency fund needs using the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) dataset. Only 28% of respondents reported a perceived amount of emergency funds needed that would cover at least 3 months of...

We extend previous studies of retirement adequacy by testing the effect of financial sophistication on projected retirement adequacy. In an analysis of the 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) dataset, we found that only 42% of households are adequately prepared for retirement compared to 58%...

Little previous research on planned retirement ages has analyzed factors related to whether workers say they will never retire. This issue is important both in financial planning and in assessments of retirement adequacy. Using the 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances...

The recession that started in December 2007 was longer than any since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Household incomes dropped and unemployment rates increased to over 9%. We investigate the proportion of households having financial obligations over 40% of pretax income (having a high...