Working Paper

Financial education at the workplace: evidence from a survey of Federal Reserve Bank employees

Abstract: There are a number of possible explanations for the seemingly irresponsible financial behavior of many Americans. In this paper we argue that an important explanation is simply ignorance: consumers often make poor financial decisions because they do not know how to make good ones. In particular, we stress that consumers may not realize the importance of saving for the future, and that they may not perceive the trouble they can bring upon themselves by incurring large amounts of unsecured debt. Using survey data from employees of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, we demonstrate that, at least for people sharing the characteristics of these employees, financial position is highly related to knowledge of personal finance. We also demonstrate a relationship between financial education and financial knowledge and behavior for this group.

Keywords: Financial literacy;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Part of Series: Community Affairs Research Working Paper

Publication Date: 2006

Number: 2006-02