an analysis of the importance of personal strongfinancestrong topics and.pdf

FINANCIAL SERVICES REVIEW Financial Services Review 15 (2006) 81-9 8 = ^ ^ ^ = ^ ^ ^ ^ = An analysis of the importance of personal finance topics and the level of knowledge possessed by working adults Ronald P. Volpe^ Haiyang Chen^-*, Sheen Department of Accounting and Finance, Youngstown State University. Youngstown, OH 44555. USA Financial Learning Center, William Paterson Univer.iity. 1600 Valley Road, Wa\ne. NJ 07474 Abstract This .study attempts to identify the important questions in personal financial literacy and the deficiencies in etnployees knowledge in those areas. Surveying benefit administrators at 212 U.S. companies, we found that the participants rate retirement planning and persotial finance basics as two important topics where there are deficiencies in employees knowledge. We also observed deficiencies in other areas such as investments and estate planning. In contrast, employees are relatively well informed about company benefits. The results suggest that educational programs should focus on improving employees knowledge in areas where deficiencies exist. © 2006 Academy of Financial Services. All rights reserved. Jel classification: D14 Keywords: Importance of personal finance topics; Financial literacy among working adults 1. Introduction Prior studies on financial literacy have focused on how knowledge