Motivation And Financial Literacy

This paper examines the hypothesis that low financial literacy scores among young adults, even after they have taken a course in personal finance, is related to a lack of motivation to learn or retain these skills. The research is based upon the latest national Jumpstart survey of high school seniors and uses financial literacy scores after controlling for socioeconomic, demographic, and aspiration characteristics that have historically predicted these scores. They analyze the relation of financial literacy scores to responses to three questions designed to measure motivation to be financially literate.