Consumer Knowledge and Financial Decisions / International Series on Consumer Science (PDF)

It's no secret that financial literacy skills are crucial to consumers' lives: between today's complex picture regarding credit and mortgages and the many changes in health insurance and pension programs, failure to follow the money can be devastating. But not all consumers learn the skills-and not all experts agree on a definition for financial literacy.

Covering a wide range of perspectives including family/consumer science, law, sociology, and public policy as well as finance and economics, Consumer Knowledge and Financial Decisions offers an accurate picture of American financial literacy and sets out real-world steps toward its improvement. The book starts by tackling methodological challenges to measuring financial competence, and takes a developmental approach to decision-making, such as encouraging responsibility in school children, reducing risky credit behaviors in young adults, and navigating Social Security and Medicare issues in elders. Each chapter focuses on what individuals need to know about a subject, the relationship of that knowledge to financial security, and programs that can improve decision-making or outcomes in that area. Among the topics covered:

• Cognitive development and children's financial understanding.
• Financial education for college students.
• Homebuyer counseling for diverse buyers.
• Debtors' assessment of bankruptcy education.
• Stock market investing: lessons from history.
• Financial preparedness for long-term care needs.