EVENT
The BeFi Public Policy Roundtable brings together the brightest minds in behavioral finance to discuss research that combines behavioral science and cognitive psychology with economics and finance.
PROJECT
People with low levels of financial literacy are more easily influenced by the default settings of employee savings plans. The Financial Literacy Center is measuring differences in default effects for employees at companies with auto-enrollment retirement plans, focusing on differential behavior by income.
PROJECT
Immigrants are less likely than native-born individuals to use banking services or to participate in formal retirement savings programs. The Financial Literacy Center is identifying the main barriers to these services and developing and testing new products to help improve access.
REPORT
Uses a large-scale field experiment to measure whether people save more if they are better able to understand the relationship between the amount they contribute to a retirement plan and their annual income in retirement.
PROJECT
Hispanic immigrants constitute a rapidly growing share of the U.S. population but are less likely to be financially literate than natives. RAND researchers are investigating barriers to Hispanic immigrants' use of financial services and evaluates financial education materials for them.
PROJECT
Households annuitize very little of their retirement savings. The Financial Literacy Center is studying the annuitization choices of retiring workers, designing and implementing new communication strategies that will raise acceptance of annuities, and examining the effectiveness of these strategies.
PROJECT
Currently, few Americans opt to annuitize their Social Security payments. A better understanding of individuals' preferences for annuitization, obtained via a stated-preference survey, can inform the debate on Social Security reform.
PROJECT
Women continue to lag behind men, not only in income, but in overall financial capability and retirement preparedness. A financial "bootcamp" may hold promise as a financial education program for early to mid-career women.
REPORT
Many 401(k) retirement plans allow participants to take loans from their accounts before they retire. However, if they have not paid them off before leaving their jobs, they must pay them in full immediately. This study quantifies how many people take out loans and, of those, how many default. It proposes changes in retirement policy to reduce the financial risk posed by these loans, particularly for vulnerable groups.
TOOL
The Health and Retirement Study is a longitudinal survey of the elderly dating back to 1992. With the support of the National Institute on Aging and Social Security Administration, RAND has made five data sets available for researchers.
PROJECT
Research suggests that many individuals claim Social Security retirement benefits at younger ages than may be optimal. The Financial Literacy Center is evaluating alternative ways to convey information about when to claim benefits and offering advice to enhance the Social Security Administration's online claiming website.
PROJECT
People have difficulty understanding how much money they must accumulate in their working years to create a sufficient stream of income once they retire. The Financial Literacy Center is exploring whether disclosing information about the monthly retirement income stream resulting from an individual's retirement account will change savings behavior.
PROJECT
Results from the National Financial Capability Survey show the majority of Americans lack basic numeracy and knowledge of fundamental economic principles. The Financial Literacy Center is analyzing the raw survey data to construct an atlas of financial literacy among U.S. states and among some demographic groups.
PROJECT
Many households use commitment devices such as monthly mortgage payments, Social Security, and payroll 401(k) deductions to help them save. The Financial Literacy Center is trying to design a "new and improved" 401(k) that offers a better combination of liquidity and commitment than the current defined contribution pension.
PROJECT
Building on two video games it designed to build financial skills among low-income women, the Financial Literacy Center is now re-creating those games for Spanish-speaking players.
PROJECT
The Financial Literacy Center is developing and testing college curricula for financial literacy instruction, suitable for adult learners and pre-service K–8 teachers. The goal of this project is to educate as many young people and adults as possible in financial matters.
PROJECT
The RAND Behavioral Finance (BeFi) Forum is a collective of academic, financial, and government leaders who meet regularly in person and via web seminars to foster cutting-edge behavioral research for practical application. BeFi's mission is to help consumers make better financial decisions.
PROJECT
Lack of financial literacy has been shown to be a serious obstacle to financial stability. The Financial Literacy Center is using new and innovative methods such as visual tools and the power of stories and narratives to teach basic but fundamental economic concepts that are the foundation of financial decisionmaking.
REPORT
These videos offer presentations from "Emerging Research on Financial Literacy: a Workshop," held by the Financial Literacy Center, a joint center of the RAND Corporation, Dartmouth College, and the Wharton School. The workshop brought together Center scholars with policymakers and practitioners in the financial literacy field.
TOOL
RAND's American Life Panel surveys people age 40 and over on the Internet, which allows for greater flexibility in survey design and instantly accessible data. Current studies analyze opinions on Medicare Plan D, health shocks, and financial decisionmaking.
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