Personal Finance Learner Certification, Learner Standards, & Financial Wellness Indicators
The NFEC is committed to measuring the impact of financial education programming. Testing, surveys, and empirical measures of behavioral adoption are some of the tools used to gauge program impact. Two tools we’ve made available to the public include our Personal Finance Certifications & Standards and the Financial Literacy Wellness Indicator.
The purpose of the NFEC’s Personal Finance Certification is to provide standards-based assessments that demonstrate achievement of set learning outcomes. This process provides learners, educators, and the organization leading the initiative with independent verification of their accomplishments.
The Financial Literacy Wellness assessments gauge your current financial situation; your feelings and attitudes toward money; and your motivations, interests, and willingness to learn and adopt positive financial habits. The purpose of these surveys is to paint an accurate picture of your current financial well-being and project your financial wellness and needs in the future.
Proficiency Levels & Personal Finance Learner Certifications Available
The Personal Finance Certifications issued are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Higher Order Thinking and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK). These frameworks outline cognitive rigor of the material and provide a clear framework for assessments. Three levels of certification are available:

Personal Finance Tactician Certificate
(DOK Level 4 – Extended Thinking)
At this level participants are given questions that require complex reasoning and analysis; they possess the ability to connect lessons with other concepts. Learners reach this Certification level after receiving higher than 80% on assessments, reports, interviews, and project-based assignments that demonstrate extended thinking.
Personal Finance Analysis Certificate
(DOK Level 2 & 3 – Skill/Concept/Strategic Thinking)
Level 2 Activities have participants connect information in the Recall group to be able to solve problems. Lesson plans at this level ask participants to develop relationships between concepts and interpret data. Level 3 Activities require higher cognitive rigor like planning, reasoning, and explaining the process used to derive the answer. Learners reach this Certification level after receiving an 80% or better on multiple choice, essay, and short-answer questions that demonstrate strategic thinking.
Personal Finance Logician Certificate
(DOK Level 1 – Recall)
These assessments test a student’s ability to recall information like a name, fact, quote, or other basic piece of information. At level 1 they should be capable to perform basic calculations or apply a formula. Learners reach this personal finance certification online level after completing multiple choice testing and receiving a score of 80% or better.
Financial Wellness Indicator
The Financial Literacy Wellness assessments gauge your current financial situation; your feelings and attitudes toward money; and your motivations, interests, and willingness to learn and adopt positive money habits. The purpose of these surveys is to paint an accurate picture of where you currently are, and project your financial wellness and needs in the future.
Select Your Desired Assessment
Provide Your Answers
Review Your Individual & Overall Scores
Topic Overview
For those age 14 and up Certifications are available in 10 personal finance topic areas and an overall Certification:
For youth that range in age between 3 and 13 the Personal Finance Certifications are available in 5 topic areas:
Certification Age Segmentations
The development team found that the age breakdowns in existing industry guidelines did not align with student’s cognitive abilities to evaluate key concepts. To address this problem, the NFEC team interviewed educators and sought research to provide evidence-based reasoning for the age breakdowns of the Certification age levels.
Test Facilitation & Results Gathering
Organizations seeking personal finance certification have 3 options:


