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Financial literacy has a strong influence on financial well-being, and it is a concept especially important for college students who start to develop their financial habits. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial literacy, money attitudes and time preferences among Turkish university students.

Data were collected from 1,443 university students from 14 campuses in Turkey. Structural equation modeling methodology is employed to test the hypotheses.

The results suggest that students with higher financial knowledge scores have more favorable financial attitudes and exhibit more desirable financial behaviors. It is also demonstrated that financial attitude is positively related to financial behavior. Furthermore, a significant and negative relationship between the affective dimension of the money ethic construct and financial behavior is found. In contrast, the relationship between the behavioral dimension of money ethic and financial behavior is positive. It is further demonstrated that a present orientation leads to more negative financial attitudes.

This study will reveal the interrelationships among dimensions of financial literacy, money ethics and time preferences in an emerging economy with a relatively little experience with formal financial systems and unstable macroeconomic conditions.