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Financial inclusion can be proxied by banking status. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential effects of financial capability on the financial fragility of US adults with various banking statuses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study utilized the 2021 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) dataset to investigate the relationship between financial capability and financial fragility among consumers with different banking statuses. The analysis controlled for employment shocks, health shocks and other consumer characteristics. Banking statuses included fully banked, under-banked (utilizing both banking and alternative financial services) and unbanked individuals. Logistic regression analyses were conducted on both the entire sample and subsamples based on banking statuses.

The results showed that financial capability was negatively associated with financial fragility. The magnitude of the potential negative effect of financial capability was the greatest among the fully banked group, followed by the underbanked and unbanked groups. Respondents who were underbanked or unbanked were more likely to experience financial fragility than those who were fully banked. Additionally, respondents who were laid off or furloughed during the pandemic were more likely to experience financial fragility than those without employment shocks. The effect size of financial capability factors was greater than that of COVID-19 shock factors. These results suggest that higher levels of both financial capability and financial inclusion may be effective in reducing the risk of financial fragility.

This study represents one of the first attempts to examine the potential effects of financial capability on financial fragility among consumers with various banking statuses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this study offers new evidence to determine whether COVID-19 shocks, as measured by health and employment status, are associated with financial fragility. Additionally, the effect size of financial capability factors is greater than that of COVID-19 shock factors. The results from the 2021 NFCS dataset provide valuable insights for banking professionals and public policymakers on how to enhance consumer financial wellbeing.

This paper aims to examine and compare the associations between financial capability and financial anxiety (FA) before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Specifically, financial capability is measured by three indicators: financial knowledge, financial behavior and financial confidence. This study also examines and compares the association among different income groups before and during the pandemic.

Data are from 2018 to 2021 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS). Structural equation modeling (SEM) is employed to examine the direct and indirect associations between financial capability factors and FA. Furthermore, this paper also conducts multi-group SEM for three income groups to examine the heterogeneous effects of household income.

Both before and during the pandemic, financial knowledge is directly positively and financial behavior is directly negatively associated with FA. In addition, both financial knowledge and financial behavior are positively associated with financial confidence, which in turn is negatively associated with FA. However, when taking the indirect effects into consideration, the total effects of financial capability factors on FA are all negative. Furthermore, the pandemic has intensified the negative association between financial behavior and FA rather than financial knowledge or financial confidence. Multi-group SEM shows that the positive direct effects of financial knowledge are only significant in the low-income group, while the negative direct effects of financial behavior are only significant in the low- and middle-income groups before the pandemic. However, direct effects of financial knowledge and financial behavior are significant in all income groups during the pandemic.

First, this study specifies a construct, financial confidence, to proxy perceived financial capability. Second, it examines the mediating role of financial confidence in the association between the other two financial capability factors (financial knowledge and financial behaviors) and FA. Third, it also compares the associations between financial capability factors and FA before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of credit record overconfidence on the use of alternative financial services (AFSs).

Using data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), the authors estimate logistic regressions on the use of at least one AFS by adding a credit record confidence variable that captures deviations between self-assessments of credit record management and the number of reported behaviors that would negatively affect aspects of a Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) score.

The authors find that respondents with credit record overconfidence have over two times higher odds (123.9%) of using AFS than the odds of respondents with financial knowledge overconfidence (46.8%), relative to their reference categories. When compared directly, those with only credit record overconfidence have 32.6% higher odds of using AFS than those with only financial knowledge overconfidence.

The results provide implications for education programs, not only for vulnerable groups at higher risk for AFS use but also for those with cognitive biases, such as credit record overconfidence. Potential solutions include personal financial education that includes debiasing and behavioral techniques for overconfidence.

This paper studies, for the first time, the effect of deviations between actual and perceived credit record management on AFS use.

Although annuitization provides insurance against longevity risk that can benefit households, researchers have uncovered an annuitization puzzle, which suggests households are reluctant to annuitize their wealth. This study contributes to the discussions on the annuitization puzzle by examining investor sophistication and owning annuities in non-retirement accounts.

The study utilizes data from the 2018 U S National Financial Capability Study (NFCS). The empirical analyses are based on logistic regression estimates of annuity ownership on investor sophistication. Interpretations are based on odds ratios.

The findings indicate that investor sophistication contributes to the annuity puzzle. Investors with low objective and high subjective investment knowledge (overconfident investors) are more likely to own annuities compared to those with low objective and low subjective investment knowledge. However, investors with high objective and low subjective investment knowledge (under-confident investors) are less likely to choose annuity ownership compared to those with low objective and low subjective investment knowledge. The findings and ensuing discussion highlight the importance of annuitization when planning for retirement, with implications for financial service professionals.

The measure of investor sophistication does not assess the difficulty level of each financial knowledge question. The questions used to construct the investor sophistication variable are based on general investment knowledge. In addition, the annuity ownership variable used in this study pertains to investments outside retirement accounts. Despite these limitations, the findings highlight the importance of annuitization when planning for retirement.

Unlike prior studies, the authors consider four mutually exclusive measures of investor sophistication constructed from measures of objective and subjective investment knowledge to understand the effect of investor sophistication on annuity ownership in the United States.

This study aims to examine the literature on consumer financial capability. By analyzing the research trends, theories, definitions and themes, the literature on financial capability is synthesized, and agenda for future research is suggested. A framework is presented that portrays the antecedents as well as the outcomes of financial capability and their interlinkages.

Following a systematic approach, the review is based on 215 articles published during January 2007 and–March 2022, retrieved from Scopus. It presents the definitions and theories of financial capability, publication trends, influential articles, prominent authors, prolific journals and countries publishing on financial capability. Using bibliographic coupling, the intellectual structure of the topic is explored, along with offering a framework through content analysis.

The bibliographic coupling analysis identifies four major clusters of research themes and capability theory appeared to be the most prominent theory. The synthesis draws upon five conceptual definitions of financial capability. Based on the discussion, in this review, financial capability is defined as an individual ability to apply appropriate financial knowledge, perform desirable financial behaviors and take available financial opportunities for achieving financial well-being. A conceptual framework delineates the synthesized literature and propositions based on this framework and relevant research are proposed. Finally, directions for future research are discussed.

This paper is an attempt to offer a comprehensive synthesis of the scholarship on financial capability and its conceptualization. It further proposes an extensive future research agenda. The study has implications for financial services providers relating to retail bank marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate roles of financial literacy, financial behavior, and financial capability as mediating factors between financial education and financial satisfaction.

Data are from the 2012 National Financial Capability Study, a large national data set with detailed information on financial satisfaction, education, literacy, behavior, capability, and related variables. Mediation analyses are used to answer research questions.

Financial education may affect financial satisfaction, a subjective measure of financial well-being, through financial literacy, financial behavior, and financial capability variables. Results show that subjective financial literacy, desirable financial behavior and a financial capability index (a sum of Z-scores of objective financial literacy, subjective financial literacy, desirable financial behavior, and perceived financial capability) are strong mediators between financial education and financial satisfaction.

The study has used cross sectional data that can only document associations between financial education and satisfaction and the mediators between them. Future research could use relevant longitudinal data to verify multiple benefits of financial education.

The findings have implications for financial service professionals to take advantages of multiple benefits of financial education in content acquisition, confidence in knowledge and ability, and action taking when they communicate with their clients.

Policy makers on consumer financial education may use the information to advocate and promote effective education programs to improve consumer financial well-being.

This study is the first of this kind to examine the association between financial education and financial satisfaction and several financial capability variables as mediating factors.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the racial/ethnic differences in mobile payment use and to explore the contributing factors to the differences.

This study used the 2018 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) dataset to examine racial/ethnic disparities in mobile payment use. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to confirm racial/ethnic differences, and Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition analyses were performed to identify which factors explain the differences among the groups.

The authors discovered that Whites use mobile payment less than Blacks, Hispanics and Asians/others. The results revealed that prior experiences with mobile financial services, including transfer, banking and budgeting applications, all play considerable roles in explaining the disparities between Whites and other racial/ethnic groups.

This is one of the few studies to examine racial/ethnic disparities in mobile payment use with a particular focus on the influence of users' past experience with technology. The results provide insights for researchers, professionals, educators and policymakers into ways to promote future use of mobile payment.

The purpose of this study is to examine investors' internal characteristics, including investment literacy, risk tolerance and familiarity with mobile financial services, as antecedents of mobile investment technology adoption among American investors.

Using the 2018 National Financial Capability Study and its supplemental Investor Survey, this study examined antecedents, including investors' internal characteristics, in relation to mobile investment technology adoption. Nested logistic regression analyses were performed for adopting mobile apps for investment decisions and for investment trading.

This study found that objective and subjective investment knowledge, experience using mobile banking for payments and money transfers, and certain ownerships of investment vehicles (such as whole-life insurance policies and ETFs) were significant determinants of mobile investment decision-making. On the other hand, subjective investment literacy, risk tolerance, familiarity with mobile financial services, and portfolio value, as well as certain types of investment vehicles were significantly associated with mobile investment trading.

This study is among the first to examine investors' investment literacy, risk tolerance and familiarity with mobile financial services as investors' internal characteristics in relation to mobile investment technology adoption. The diffusion of innovations theory and related concepts provide theoretical support for this study. The findings provide new insights into mobile investing as an emerging FinTech subject and provide implications for practitioners and FinTech developers, as well as contribute to the literature of mobile investment service adoption among retail investors.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how individual risk preference influences the borrowing of payday loans – a prevalent type of cash loan in the USA with exorbitantly high-interest rates. Additionally, this paper tests how risk preference determines other alternative financial services (AFS), including pawn shops, rent-to-own purchases, title loans, etc.

The author applies Probit and Tobit regressions to test the relationship between individual risk preference and payday borrowing, based on the state-by-state survey data from National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) sponsored by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation.

Individuals with higher risk tolerance are more likely to borrow payday loans and other AFS, after controlling for financial situation, financial literacy, overconfidence and demographic features.

This paper is the first to study risk preference as an explanation to the high cost and widely used payday loan services in the United States of America. This study provides evidence that these cash loans are determined by inherent human characteristics. The finding provides new insight for the policymakers and regulators in the consumer debt market.

This study introduces the concept of financial advice deserts (FADs), including financial advice received from personal financial advisors (PFAs) and Certified Financial Plannersâ„¢ (CFP professionals) and investigates the association between living in these FAD states and the retirement planning activities of individuals.

This study uses merged data gathered from multiple sources including (1) available state-level information on CFP professionals from the CFP board website, (2) state-level information on PFAs from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and (3) individual levels of retirement planning behavior and other personal characteristics from the 2018 FINRA National Financial Capability Study. Using web data extraction tools and logistic regression analyses, this study examines the association between a series of individual retirement planning activities and living in the FAD states.

The study found that living in the FAD states was negatively associated with both having retirement accounts and contributing regularly to retirement accounts. Overall, the findings of this study underscore the need for providing greater access to financial advice and improving financial literacy among financially marginalized populations who are residing in FAD states in the United States of America.

This study makes unique contributions to the literature by raising the issue of geographic inequality in terms of access to financial advice and introducing the innovative notion of FADs. The findings provide fresh insights into the understanding of retirement planning and preparedness from the perspective of state-level inequality of financial advice through PFAs and CFP professionals, thereby expanding the previous knowledge that emphasizes only individual- and household-level differences. Significant implications for public policies and practitioners are also discussed.