2009 National Financial Capability Study
The National Financial Capability Study established a baseline measure of the ability of Americans to manage their money, benchmarking four key indicators of financial capability and evaluating how these indicators vary with underlying demographic, behavioral, attitudinal and financial literacy characteristics. It consists of findings from three linked surveys:
- National Survey. A national, random-digit-dialed telephone survey of 1,488 respondents with over-sampling to enable segmentation by selected demographic variables (e.g., race, household income, education level) (released December 2009)
- State-by-State Survey. A state-by-state online survey of approximately 25,000 respondents (roughly 500 per state, plus DC) (to be released in 2010)
- Military Survey. An online survey of 800 military personnel and spouses (to be released in 2010)
The National Survey results were released at a special financial capability event hosted at the U.S. Department of the Treasury on December 15, 2009. The event featured Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and FINRA Foundation Chairman Rick Ketchum. Click here to read the Foundation's press release and Chairman Ketchum's remarks.
Findings and Methodology
- National Survey—Executive Summary (PDF 526 KB)
- National Survey—Full Report and Methodology (PDF 618 KB)
- Survey Questionnaire—English (PDF 124 KB), en Español (PDF 143 KB)
Additional data from the National Survey will be released in the future.
