Diploma

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Financial Literacy

and

Education

Commission 

Research Priorities applied to the 

2013-2014 Strategic Focus

“Starting Early

for Financial Success”

May 2013
 In 2012, the Financial Literacy and Education 

Commission’s (FLEC) Research and Evaluation (R&E) 

Working Group produced an updated list of research 

priorities for the fields of financial literacy and financial 

education. The research priorities are intended to inform the FLEC as a whole, individual member agencies 

and their sub-agencies, and other federal government 

supporters of research, as well as private sector and academic researchers and research funders. As the FLEC 

has now identified Starting Early for Financial Success

as a strategic focus for the coming years, the identified 

research priorities should be connected to the goal of 

improving the financial capability of people by helping 

them to “start early” in their financial education and 

planning. FLEC agencies should coordinate their research agendas where possible to correspond with their 

Starting Early initiatives. 

 Many of the research priorities focus on a need to 

develop ways of measuring financial capability in order 

to document the effectiveness of interventions and 

financial education programs in improving financial 

knowledge, behaviors, and outcomes. The activities 

undertaken by FLEC members to achieve the goal 

of promoting financial success by starting early, and 

continuing throughout life, present an opportunity to 

advance a number of the research priorities. 

To recap, the high-level priorities identified in the 

2012 Research Priorities and Research Questions 

document include:

1. 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.

2. Identify optimal combinations of financial information, advice, regulation, disclosure, and delivery 

mechanisms and choice architecture including default 

options, and their impact on starting and maintaining 

positive financial habits. 

3. Employ longitudinal data to evaluate the effectiveness of core competencies on behavior and financial 

well-being over time. 

4. Identify, evaluate, and build consensus on “key 

metrics” for financial education/capability, including 

measures of knowledge, behaviors, and well-being. 

5. Identify and evaluate the relationship between financial education and access to and design of high quality 

financial products. 

6. Assess the role of business cycles and financial contexts in individuals’ financial decision making. 

7. 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 e community levels.

8. Identify opportunities and roles for local, state, and 

federal governments as scalable platforms for financial 

capability. 

9. Identify and evaluate potential synergies between 

educational programs targeting financial capability and 

those targeting physical and mental health.

 Under the Starting Early focus, the FLEC has 

organized three committees tied to critical moments in young people’s financial lives: Children and 

Youth/K-12; Post-secondary Education; and Early Career and Retirement. A fourth Committee on Research 

and Evaluation is working to coordinate and disseminate relevant research findings and make sure that the 

FLEC’s work is based on empirical evidence. 

 Preparing youth to have a basic understanding of 

financial transactions, and to make informed decisions about paying for post-secondary education are 

key priorities of the FLEC. Another goal is increasing 

the number of young adults who will be better prepared to plan for their futures, save for retirement and 

other long term goals, and successfully manage their 

credit and debt. By promoting the inclusion of a high 

quality evaluation component to FLEC initiatives, the 

Research and Evaluation Committee will contribute to 

the understanding of what information and approaches 

to program delivery are most effective at promoting 

positive financial behaviors. Moreover, to the extent 

possible, a consistent set of metrics will be identified 

and used for evaluating effectiveness across comparable 

programs.

 Education activities and interventions undertaken as 

part of the Starting Early focus present the opportunity 

to further the research on what questions best assess 

financial capability pre- and post-intervention as well 

as what questions best assess an individual’s ability 

to effectively plan ahead, such as for their retirement. 

They also present the opportunity to evaluate the 

relative effectiveness of the various components of 

these programs for improving understanding of key 

personal finance concepts. Moreover, any data collection undertaken for these initiatives would form the 

basis for a panel data set. This data could then be used 

to examine how financial literacy and financial education relate to future financial behavior and financial 

well-being. By carefully designing these programs from 

the outset, with research and evaluation in mind, the 

necessary data can be collected, experimental designs 

can be implemented, and where possible, outcomes can 

be measured. To ensure that the activities undertaken 

by FLEC are broadly applicable they will be designed to 

be scalable and relevant to a wide array of Americans. 

Thus, the various activities undertaken as part of the 

Starting Early strategic focus will further many of the 

previously identified FLEC research priorities.

 

Diploma

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