Financial Literacy Survey: Learn Results

The National Financial Educators Council conducts financial literacy surveys, studies, and research and hosts think tanks around topics related to financial education. The objective is to gather empirical data and discover best practices to share with others in the financial literacy industry.

The NFEC seeks to gain a deeper knowledge about how to create the conditions that help people achieve a state of financial wellness. The research can give organizations data to effectively support development of personal finance skill sets.

NFEC Releases Key Financial Literacy Survey Data

The NFEC conducts ongoing research to assess financial literacy and financial wellness levels around the country, for the purpose of distributing that information to the financial education industry, the media, and the public as a whole. Key financial literacy survey data are gathered through surveys, polls, and think tank discussions. Those data are analyzed to explore the relationships between people’s behaviors and attitudes toward money and their overall financial literacy. The NFEC also has conducted surveys regarding whether businesses conduct credit checks on prospective employees.

Latest NFEC Financial Literacy Surveys

Love & Money Survey

The NFEC conducts annual surveys on the subject of relationship and money every February. Check here for the latest results.

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How Much Financial Illiteracy Costs – Survey

Survey of over 5,500 people across the US (99% confidence / 4% margin of error) shared their estimates on how much a lack of financial knowledge cost them.

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Financial Literacy Entrepreneurship Career Education Survey

The the National Financial Educators Council asked 1,100 people, “Do you think high school students should have access to financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and career education classes?”

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Advertising to Kids Survey

The Advertising to Kids survey was conducted to better understand how people feel about marketing to children. The NFEC seeks to gain a deeper knowledge about factors that can affect a child’s future state of financial wellness.

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Holiday Gift Giving Survey

In a recent survey, the NFEC asked, “What gift would you most like to receive this holiday season?”

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Financial Literacy in School Survey

“What high school course would benefit you the most in the real world?” Click here to learn how many of the 8,633+ respondents voted for personal finance.

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Parents’ and Children’s Money Survey

Parents play an important role in preparing their children to reach self-sufficiency, so we asked which parent taught people the most about money?

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Financial Independence Survey

Do you believe in the American Dream? Results of a new survey indicate that most U.S. adults still do. To coincide with Independence Day, the NFEC conducted this survey to discover whether Americans today perceive that financial independence is attainable.

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Who Do You Turn to For Trusted Financial Guidance – Survey

Discover where people turn to for financial information. See the results of our national (US) survey and other related data.

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Money and Mental Health Survey

The Money and Mental Health survey demonstrates the connection between people’s finances and their emotional state.

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Employee Financial Wellness Survey

The NFEC’s annual employee financial wellness survey quantifies the feelings of workers as related to their personal finances.

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Emergency Preparedness Survey

Financial preparedness includes proactively addressing emergency situations. This emergency preparedness survey measures people’s preparedness of their readiness for the next major issue that could interrupt their finances.

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Individuals and Classrooms May Use NFEC Financial Capability Surveys

The NFEC creates multiple financial literacy survey options in which people may participate individually, or use for classroom evaluation purposes. For example, an educator might want a money management survey option to assess individuals’ current situations as related to the subject matter they’re about to study. Or a teacher might want to design a questionnaire that evaluates financial behaviors, so he or she can determine how to guide students toward more positive action.

NFEC Research & Testing Data

NFEC Testing Data

View the results of the NFEC’s national financial literacy tests. Data from over 130,000 participants and with a broad…

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Financial Problems & Consequences

Research in this section covers: Scope of the Problem, Severity of Consequences, Impact on Loved Ones and the Impact on the Community.

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Childhood Influencers of an Individuals’ Finances

Research focused on childhood influencers of a person’s future finances. Research explores how people’s upbringing affects their financial situations and the challenges they face as adults to overcome these problems.

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Adult Influencers of an Individual’s Finances

Research covers the financial behaviors, sentiment, knowledge, and management systems start forming in childhood and are established as habits by the time a person reaches adulthood.

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Access Complimentary Financial Literacy Surveys & Tests

Receive complimentary financial literacy tests and testing results. Organizations and individuals are welcome to use this online evaluation material for pre-and post-testing, self-assessment, and/or to gain a better understanding about various financial literacy topics.

The Financial Literacy Survey & Testing Center was developed to: provide resources for financial educators and people interested in improving their financial knowledge. The data gathered using these resources will be used to help adapt NFEC programs to accommodate different learner needs.

Participate in financial literacy surveys and tests or view the results. Choose the subject you are interested in below:

Read expanded Forbes coverage on our employee wellness survey.

Additional Surveys and Results

Paul Yates, Financial Education Consultant

People are becoming increasingly aware that we need financial education courses to be delivered to our children. Recent financial literacy surveys have indicated that children have a dismal understanding of basic money management skills, a finding that has raised the concern of our government and education officials.

Financial literacy surveys have helped raise awareness about this problem, and ongoing administration of those tests will continue to drive the push for personal finance training. Until the day when surveys begin to show positive results, the financial education movement must keep moving forward full force.

For those who are teaching financial literacy and want to administer their own financial literacy surveys, there are resources available. Of course, working with a professional organization with experience in conducting surveys is always preferred; but sometimes budgets don’t allow that option. This article will explain how you can administer tests and surveys yourself for a minimal time investment.

Your first step is to decide on the focus of your financial literacy survey. Do you want to measure knowledge levels, emotional responses, or participants’ motivational levels? Deciding on your survey’s theme helps guide the rest of the process. Further, if you plan to conduct a financial literacy survey after your financial education course, you should be sure the survey questions are addressed in your coursework. Otherwise your results are likely to be skewed.

Once you have a theme, write out some questions and response choices. Then sharing your draft Q & A’s with a review group is a good idea. Other people can help you flesh out questions that are unclear or hard to comprehend.

Sample financial literacy survey questions might range from rating one’s financial confidence level, to questions designed to measure specific knowledge. Design a questionnaire that best meets your goals. Remember to ask yourself, “What do I want to find out? How will I report the results? How will the results be used?”

All your financial literacy research, survey questions and answers should be clear and written in language your audience can understand. Studies show that most people read at junior high level, so leave out the colorful or jargon words and opt for clear, concise questions that are simply stated.

Once you have the questions squared away, use a free service like Survey Monkey to program and conduct your financial literacy survey. Survey Monkey and other similar websites allow you to create online surveys, gather, store, and compile the data. You can post your survey on a website or email a link to respondents. The website tracks the results of your financial literacy survey, and many have evaluation and data analysis options as well.

Just like setting financial goals, conducting financial literacy surveys lets you know when to celebrate. Set big, yet achievable goals for your financial education course and continue to grow your program each year. Your survey results are likely to continue improving, year after year.

Administering a financial education survey is an excellent suggestion for anyone who wants quantitative data or just a better understanding of the people they touched.

Visit the Financial Literacy Testing and Survey Center to access over 30 complimentary test and surveys.