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Banking Experience and Individual Development Accounts

Grinstein-Weiss, M., Yeo, Y. H., Despard, M. R., Casalotti, A. M., and Zhan, M. (2010). Does prior banking experience matter? Differences of the banked and unbanked in Individual Development Accounts. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 31, 212-227.

Brief Description: This study compares the saving performance and program participation of participants who owned bank accounts and those who did not prior to program enrollment in 14 Individual Development Account programs. Banked participants were shown to have higher average monthly net …

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Effect of Expressing a Quantitative Goal on Savings Behavior

Loibl, C. & Scharff, R. L. (2010). Examining the effect of expressing a quantitative goal on consumer savings. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 44, (1): 127-154. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2010.01160.x.

Brief Description: The study extended the psychological concept of implementation intentions to the analysis of savings behavior. A field experiment was conducted with current participants of an America Saves campaign in a large city in a U.S. Midwestern state. The intervention required the treatment group participants to write down specific plans about the …

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Managing a Retirement Portfolio: Do Annuities Provide More Safety?

Spitzer, J.J. (2009). Managing a retirement portfolio: Do annuities provide more safety? Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 20(1), 58-69.

Brief Description:  One of the biggest concerns of retirees is the risk of outliving their assets. This study used a technique called “bootstrap simulations” to estimate the probability of someone outliving a retirement portfolio as increasing proportions of a tax-deferred account are annuitized. It also examined the sizes of the portfolio balance as the annuity amount increased. Required …

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Spousal differences in financial risk tolerance

 

Gilliam, J.E., Goetz, J.W. & Hampton, V. L. (2008). Spousal differences in financial risk tolerance. Financial Counseling and Planning, 19(1), 3-11.

Brief Description: This study explored the financial risk tolerance of 110 couples who completed a Web-based survey. Wives who were university graduates had a higher tolerance for risk, whereas their husbands’ mean risk tolerance score was lower than husbands whose wives did not have degrees. Perhaps, due to a higher level of household income, it is unnecessary for …

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Racial/Ethnic Differences in High Return Investment Ownership

 

Hanna, S. D., Wang, C. & Yuh, Y. (2010). Racial/ethnic differences in high return investment ownership: A decomposition analysis. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 21 (2), pp. 44-59.

Brief Description:  Research on ownership of high risk/high return assets shows that Black and Hispanic households are much less likely to own them than are White households, even after education is taken into account. This study uses a decomposition strategy to examine how minority households would invest if they had …

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Assertiveness and Investment Risk of Married Couples

 

Gilliam, J., Dass, M., Durband, D. B. & Hampton, V. (2010). The role of assertiveness in portfolio risk and financial risk tolerance among married couples. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning 21 (1), pp. 53-67.

Brief Description:  Couples who were clients of financial planners were surveyed regarding their assertiveness, risk tolerance and investment portfolios. No relationship was found between assertiveness and risk tolerance or portfolio risk level. There was a positive relationship between wife’s proportion of asset holding (higher relative …

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Women’s investment decision-making

 

Loibl, C., Lee, J., Mentel-Gaeta, E., Fox. J. (2007). Women’s high-consequence decision making: A nonstatic and complex choice process. Financial Counseling and Planning, 18(2), 35-47.

Brief Description: Using qualitative data from a focus group of female investors, this study examined choice processes used when making mutual fund decisions in employer retirement plans. It found that investment decision-making is a compromise between the goals of increased accuracy and a desire to limit cognitive effort. Observations included a lack of investment information …

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High School Economic Education and Access to Financial Services

 

Grimes, P.W., Rogers, K.E., & Smith, R.C. (2010) High School Economic Education and Access to Financial Services, Journal of Consumer Affairs, 44(2), 317-335.

Brief Description: This study examines the relationship between students taking economics and business courses while in high school and their decision to open and maintain a commercial bank account as an adult. The results of a nationwide telephone survey revealed that high school courses in economics and business reduced the probability that an adult was unbanked, …

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Wealth and the Acquisition of Financial Literacy

 

Monticone, C. (2010). How much does wealth matter in the acquisition of financial literacy? The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 44 (2), 403-422.

Brief Description: This article investigated the determinants of financial literacy in Italy using the 2006 wave of the Italian survey on household income and wealth. Empirical results indicated that wealth has a positive effect on financial literacy, suggesting that households endowed with larger financial assets are more likely to invest in financial knowledge.

Implications: an implication for policymakers …

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Mortgage Professionals’ Perspectives on Abusive and Predatory Lending

 

Delgadillo, L. Erickson, L.V. & Piercy K.W. (2008). Disentangling the differences between abusive and predatory lending: Professionals’ perspectives. The Journal of Consumer Affairs 42 (3), 313-334.

Brief Description: This study describes how mortgage professionals differentiate abusive from predatory lending. The results indicate that some users of this term do not always adhere to a strict definition of predatory lending, but rather use it as a term for any general mortgage abuse and mortgage fraud. Existing laws at the federal and …