2012 Research Priorities and 

Research Questions 

Financial Literacy and 

Education Commission 

Research & Evaluation 

Working Group
2012 Research Priorities

2 2

Background

In 2008, the Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC) 

developed a list of research priorities. While many of these issues 

remain pertinent, other issues have arisen over time that need to be 

considered. The FLEC Research and Evaluation Working Group 

determined that it was time to update the 2008 research priorities and to 

expand these with a set of key research questions. Many of the research 

questions address traditionally underserved and vulnerable populations 

that may be financially fragile, and can least afford costly mistakes.1

Purpose of 2012 Research Priorities. These research priorities are intended 

to inform the FLEC as a whole, individual member agencies and their 

sub-agencies, other federal government supporters of research, as well 

as private sector and academic researchers and other research funders. 

The objective is to address the most important questions facing the field, 

reduce duplication and overlap in the field, and make best use of limited 

research dollars.

Key Contributors. This document is informed by a number of events and 

stakeholders. Key contributors include representatives of the FLEC, 

members of the President’s Advisory Council for Financial Capability’s 

Research and Evaluation Subcommittee, leading academic researchers, 

non-profit financial educators and counselors in the field, research 

funders, and policy experts in financial education and financial access. 

Key events include:

•	 At the 2008 National Research Symposium on Financial Literacy and 

Education, the FLEC first identified key research questions that need 

to be addressed. 

•	 On September 20, 2011, the FLEC’s Research and Evaluation 

Working Group and the President’s Advisory Council on Financial 

1 Throughout this document, we use the term “vulnerable populations” to include groups likely to face 

economic challenges and less likely to fully participate in the financial mainstream. These groups 

may include, but are not limited to: youth and young adults, the unemployed and under-employed, 

low-income consumers, those with little or no savings, other consumers outside of or partially outside of the workforce (for example, people with disabilities), and other vulnerable sociodemographic 

groups such as women and racial and ethnic minorities. 
3

2012 Research Priorities

3

Capability’s Research and Evaluation Subcommittee hosted a meeting 

at the Federal Reserve Board to begin updating the list of research 

priorities for the field. 

•	 Additional rounds of review have included a broader set of FLECmember agencies and related organizations.

This list of priorities is a living document to broadly guide research and 

research funding in the field. As the financial education field continues 

to evolve, research will be critical to understand what is effective, 

and cost effective, so that successful approaches can be replicated and 

supported through funding and policy. 

Summary of Research Priorities

Participants at the September 20, 2011 FLEC research convening 

identified nine top issues as priority areas for research. Overall, 

participants agreed that additional funding is needed to address data 

gaps presented by these priorities.

•	 Evaluate the delivery of financial education for youth and adults in 

order to identify effective approaches, delivery channels, and other 

factors (such as the interaction of knowledge, products, and behaviors) 

that enhance effectiveness. 

•	 Identify optimal combinations of financial information, advice, 

regulation, disclosure, and delivery mechanisms, including default 

options, and their impact on starting and maintaining positive 

financial habits. 

•	 Employ longitudinal data to evaluate the effectiveness of core 

competencies on behavior and financial well-being over time. 

•	 Identify, evaluate, and build consensus on “key metrics” for financial 

education/capability, including measures of knowledge, behaviors, and 

well-being. 

•	 Identify and evaluate the relationship between financial education and 

access to and design of high quality financial products.

•	 Assess the role of business cycles and the economic and financial 

contexts in individuals’ financial decision making. 
2012 Research Priorities

4 4

•	 Ascertain how risk and uncertainty, including economic and other 

shocks (such as natural disasters), alter risk exposure and risk 

management choices both at the consumer and community levels. 

•	 Identify opportunities and roles for local, state, and federal 

governments as scalable platforms for financial capability.

•	 Identify and evaluate potential synergies between educational 

programs targeting financial capability and those targeting physical 

and mental health.
5

2012 Research Priorities

5

2012 Research Priorities with Suggested Research Questions

Evaluate Successful Financial Education Delivery

Evaluate the delivery of financial education for youth and adults in order 

to identify effective approaches, delivery channels, and other factors 

(such as the interaction of knowledge, products, and behaviors) that 

enhance effectiveness. 

•	 What can past and current financial education curricula, delivery 

methods, and other approaches tell us about the most appropriate 

and effective content and delivery methods? How can those lessons 

be applied to traditionally underserved, low-income populations with 

low levels of literacy and numeracy? What can rigorous evaluation 

of programs that appear to be popular and effective tell us about the 

effective program components and practices, so that lessons learned 

can be disseminated and replicated?

•	 What delivery mechanisms – e.g., written materials, classroom 

instruction with peer and instructor interaction, online computer 

courses, self-administered versus instructor-administered assessments 

– and settings – e.g. home, employer, community group - work best at 

improving consumers’ financial behavior over time? For what groups? 

What outcomes can be expected? What new technologies – e.g., 

computer games, videos, technologies related to social media – work best? 

•	 Who is effective at delivering financial capability-building messages 

and information? To what extent are media messages, social media, 

or other similar venues effective? What are indicators of high quality 

instruction and high quality financial advice, and how can those 

factors be replicated? What are the best delivery mechanisms for high 

quality, unbiased financial advice? What best practices exist and how 

can they be replicated and disseminated?

•	 What can we learn from existing data sources – e.g., national surveys 

of household finances, financial literacy surveys, administrative data 

from public benefits programs – about levels of financial education/

literacy among the American public? How can these data sources 

be improved (e.g., through oversampling of specific subpopulations, 

addition of new questions, more timely availability of data)?
2012 Research Priorities

6 6

Identify Optimal Strategy Combinations

Identify optimal combinations of financial information, advice, 

regulation, disclosure, and delivery mechanisms, including default options, 

and their impact on starting and maintaining positive financial habits. 

•	 What can the fields of behavioral economics and decision-making 

theory tell us about how individuals respond to different education 

approaches (defined broadly to include counseling, classroom 

education, and other approaches) and delivery mechanisms? Do 

responses vary by setting (e.g., government-based, work-based, 

education-based, financial institution-based, and community-based 

organizations) as well? 

•	 How can behavioral approaches such as auto-enrollment in retirement 

savings plans and direct deposit of savings be most effectively 

combined with financial education/literacy efforts to optimize and 

manage long-term savings or other financial goals among participants, 

including vulnerable populations? 

•	 What is the most effective mix of financial education, decision 

framing, and regulation to improve financial well-being?  How does 

this mix vary across content, delivery channels, target audiences, etc.?  

Is it possible to develop an overarching framework for thinking about 

combining these three approaches or must effective combinations of 

financial education, decision framing, and regulation be developed on 

a case by case basis?

•	 How can consumers identify high quality, unbiased financial 

advice? How important is high quality financial advice for positive 

financial outcomes, as compared with no advice or advice that may be 

confounded by conflicts of interest?

Conduct Longitudinal Assessments

Employ longitudinal data to evaluate the effectiveness of core 

competencies on behavior and financial well-being over time. 

•	 How effective are the core competencies identified by FLEC (earning, 

spending, saving and investing, borrowing, and protecting) in 

predicting financial behaviors and economic and overall well-being for 

individuals and families?
7

2012 Research Priorities

7

– How can understanding of the core competencies, and the 

behaviors/actions reflecting that understanding, be measured and 

linked to indicators of economic well-being? What are appropriate 

indicators of economic well-being?

– What longitudinal data exist or can be developed to measure 

the impact of financial knowledge and behaviors on financial 

outcomes?

Identify Key Measures of Success

Identify, evaluate, and build consensus on “key metrics” for financial 

education/capability, including measures of knowledge, behavior, and 

well-being. 

•	 What are the key metrics that would allow researchers and 

practitioners to measure the linkages between financial knowledge, 

financial behaviors, economic, and overall well-being outcomes for 

individuals and families?

– How do cognition, “patience,” critical thinking, and decision 

making skills relate to financial knowledge, behaviors, and 

outcomes such as quality of living?

– How are the behaviors and outcomes measured by the metrics 

affected by financial socialization and psychological factors and the 

intersection of these two?

– How do these metrics vary by selected subgroups within the 

population: youth, newly independent younger households, older 

households, limited resource households, etc.?  How do these 

metrics vary by content and delivery method?

– What are the best ways to evaluate and disseminate these metrics 

and encourage their use by the broader research community and by 

practitioners?

Evaluate Interactions between Education and Product Design

Identify and evaluate the relationship between financial education and 

access to and design of high quality financial products.

•	 What combination of financial education instruction and access 

to high-quality financial products produces the best results in 
2012 Research Priorities

8 8

participants’ long-term financial well-being? What are the 

interactions between mode of instruction and content of instruction? 

What are the interactions between regulation, high quality financial 

products, and financial behavior?

Assess the Impact of Business Cycles

Assess the role of business cycles and economic and financial context in 

individuals’ financial decision making. 

•	 What are effective coping strategies and behaviors during times of 

financial crisis? 

•	 What is the role of financial education and access to appropriate 

financial products in managing risk?

Explore the Impacts of Risk and Financial Shocks

Ascertain how risk and uncertainty, including economic and other 

shocks, alter risk exposure and risk management choices both at the 

consumer and community levels.

•	 How has the recent economic situation, with its impact on options 

and opportunities, changed effective coping strategies and behaviors 

during times of financial crisis? How persistent are those changes?

•	 How do specific household risks, such as unemployment, changes in 

health, changes in household composition, and disability interact with 

financial knowledge and behaviors to affect financial well-being?

•	 What are different coping strategies used by communities that face 

more persistent economic risks and problems (unemployment, lack of 

financial infrastructure)? 

•	 How do people perceive and manage risk, and what are their financial 

risk tolerances and capacities?

•	 What is the long-term economic impact for households who 

experience extended periods of economic shocks and risk exposure, 

including unemployment, natural disasters, foreclosure, bankruptcy, 

and so forth.
9

2012 Research Priorities

9

Identify Local, State, and Federal “Scalable” Opportunities

Identify opportunities and roles for local, state, and federal governments 

as scalable platforms for financial capability.

•	 Would financial education strategies embedded in existing 

government platforms such as benefits programs like the 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance 

for Needy Families, Medicaid, and Social Security or other payments 

such as unemployment benefits or tax refunds effectively reach 

the intended audiences? What other federally-supported delivery 

mechanisms could be effectively merged with financial education and 

financial access opportunities, such as job training and placement, 

student lending, early childhood education, and others. Can 

connecting with health care and health literacy efforts be effective? 

What approaches are cost effective and have desired outcomes? 

•	 What is the relationship between regulatory reform and the 

development of financial capability? Can improved disclosures be 

effective financial capability tools?

Leverage Synergies with Other Subject Areas

Identify and evaluate potential synergies between educational programs 

targeting financial capability and those targeting physical and mental health.

•	 What lessons can be learned from the experiences of health literacy 

educators, nutrition educators, and others that can translate into 

financial education initiatives? What insights from financial 

education efforts may be helpful in framing physical and mental 

health efforts?
Financial Literacy and Education Commission

www.mymoney.gov