IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jconsa/v48y2014i2p274-300.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conscientiousness, Financial Literacy, and Asset Accumulation of Young Adults

Author

Listed:
  • JODI C. LETKIEWICZ
  • JONATHAN J. FOX

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="joca12040-abs-0001"> This study utilizes the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine the relationship between financial literacy, conscientiousness, and asset accumulation among young adults. Findings indicate that both conscientiousness and financial literacy are consistent predictors of asset accumulation among young Americans. A one-standard-deviation increase in conscientiousness is correlated with a 40% increase in net worth, a 53% increase in illiquid asset holdings, and a 33% increase in liquid asset holdings. A one-standard-deviation increase in financial literacy is correlated with a 60% increase in illiquid asset holdings and a 30% increase in liquid asset holdings. Financial literacy moderates the effect of conscientiousness on net worth. These findings suggest that conscientiousness and financial literacy are important factors and that policies and programming with a dual emphasis on increasing conscientiousness and financial literacy are likely to have a positive impact on consumer savings and asset-building.

Suggested Citation

  • Jodi C. Letkiewicz & Jonathan J. Fox, 2014. "Conscientiousness, Financial Literacy, and Asset Accumulation of Young Adults," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 274-300, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:48:y:2014:i:2:p:274-300
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/joca.12040
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Ameriks & Andrew Caplin & John Leahy & Tom Tyler, 2007. "Measuring Self-Control Problems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 966-972, June.
    2. van Rooij, Maarten & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Financial literacy and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 449-472, August.
    3. Chatterjee, Swarn & Palmer, Lance & Goetz, Joseph, 2012. "Individual wealth accumulation: Why does dining together as a family matter?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22.
    4. Shane Frederick & George Loewenstein & Ted O'Donoghue, 2002. "Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 351-401, June.
    5. Michael Daly & Liam Delaney & Colm P. Harmon, 2009. "Psychological and Biological Foundations of Time Preference," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(2-3), pages 659-669, 04-05.
    6. George-Marios Angeletos & David Laibson & Andrea Repetto & Jeremy Tobacman & Stephen Weinberg, 2001. "The Hyberbolic Consumption Model: Calibration, Simulation, and Empirical Evaluation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 47-68, Summer.
    7. Oaten, Megan & Cheng, Ken, 2007. "Improvements in self-control from financial monitoring," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 487-501, August.
    8. Bernheim, B. Douglas & Garrett, Daniel M., 2003. "The effects of financial education in the workplace: evidence from a survey of households," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1487-1519, August.
    9. David Laibson, 1997. "Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 443-478.
    10. Sondra G. Beverly & Marianne A. Hilgert & Jeanne M. Hogarth, 2003. "Household financial management: the connection between knowledge and behavior," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Jul, pages 309-322.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Yilan & Briley, Daniel A. & Brown, Jeffrey R. & Roberts, Brent W., 2017. "Genetic and environmental influences on household financial distress," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 404-424.
    2. Andrew Gill & Radha Bhattacharya, 2017. "The Interaction of Financial Attitudes and Financial Knowledge: Evidence for Low-Income Hispanic Families," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 45(4), pages 497-510, December.
    3. Hongyao Wei & Zhengyi Yang, 2022. "The Impact of Inheritance on the Distribution of Wealth: Evidence from China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(1), pages 234-262, March.
    4. Fan, Lu & Chatterjee, Swarn & Kim, Jinhee, 2022. "Young adults’ personality traits and subjective well-being: The role of perceived money management capability," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    5. Fuchsman, Dillon & McGee, Josh B. & Zamarro, Gema, 2023. "Teachers’ willingness to pay for retirement benefits: A national stated preferences experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    6. Fernando Angulo-Ruiz & Albena Pergelova, 2015. "An Empowerment Model of Youth Financial Behavior," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 550-575, November.
    7. Jing Jian Xiao & Kyoung Tae Kim, 2022. "The Able Worry More? Debt Delinquency, Financial Capability, and Financial Stress," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 138-152, March.
    8. Dee Warmath & Genevieve Elizabeth O'Connor & Nancy Wong & Casey Newmeyer, 2022. "The role of social psychological factors in vulnerability to financial hardship," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 1148-1177, September.
    9. Andrew Gill & Radha Bhattacharya, 2018. "Don’t Do As I Do, Do As I Say? Evidence on the Inter-Generational Transmission of Financial Attitudes," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(2), pages 177-189, April.
    10. Adam Ndou & Sam Ngwenya, 2021. "An Analysis of Personal Financial Literacy among Adults in Vhembe District, A Rural Municipality in South Africa," Eurasian Journal of Economics and Finance, Eurasian Publications, vol. 9(1), pages 55-66.
    11. Maya Haran Rosen & Ofir Pinto & Olga Kondratjeva & Stephen Roll & Aytakin Huseynli & Michal Grinstein-Weiss, 2021. "Household Savings Decisions in Israel’s Child Savings Program: The Role of Demographic, Financial, and Intrinsic Factors," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 368-386, June.
    12. Bucciol, Alessandro & Zarri, Luca, 2017. "Do personality traits influence investors’ portfolios?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-12.
    13. McLean-Meyinsse, Patricia E. & Lazard, Patrice V. & Taylor, Shervia S., 2018. "Exploring Links between Health Perceptions and Financial Knowledge," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 49(1), March.
    14. Isaac Koomson & Renato A. Villano & David Hadley, 2023. "The role of financial literacy in households’ asset accumulation process: evidence from Ghana," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 591-614, June.
    15. Xu, Yilan & Beller, Andrea H. & Roberts, Brent W. & Brown, Jeffrey R., 2015. "Personality and young adult financial distress," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 90-100.
    16. Christian König-Kersting & Stefan T. Trautmann, 2023. "Grit, Discounting, & Time Inconsistency," Working Papers 2023-12, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    17. Zaimah Ramli & Henry Borromeo Anak Nyirop & Sarmila Md Sum & Abd Hair Awang, 2022. "The Impact of Financial Shock, Behavior, and Knowledge on the Financial Fragility of Single Youth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-13, April.
    18. Ali Saleh Alshebami & Theyazn H. H. Aldhyani, 2022. "The Interplay of Social Influence, Financial Literacy, and Saving Behaviour among Saudi Youth and the Moderating Effect of Self-Control," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-18, July.
    19. Nyanzu, Frederick, 2022. "The joint effects of financial literacy and women’s empowerment training, and financial inclusion on food security: Evidence from Ghana," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322160, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Jun-Hong Chen & Chieh-Hsun Huang & Chi-Fang Wu & Melissa Jonson-Reid & Brett Drake, 2024. "The Application of Family Stress Model to Investigating Adolescent Problematic Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Assets," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 174-183, March.
    21. Saul Fine, 2024. "Character Counts: Psychometric-Based Credit Scoring for Underbanked Consumers," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-10, September.
    22. Brenda J. Cude & Swarn Chatterjee & Jamal Tavosi, 2020. "Financial Knowledge, Personality Traits, and Risky Borrowing Behaviors in Iranian Households," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-16, September.
    23. Philip Young P. Hong & Maria V. Wathen & Alanna J. Shin & Intae Yoon & Jang Ho Park, 2022. "Psychological Self-Sufficiency and Financial Literacy among Low-Income Participants: An Empowerment-Based Approach to Financial Capability," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 690-702, December.
    24. María José Roa & Ignacio Garrón & Jonathan Barboza, 2019. "Financial Decisions and Financial Capabilities in the Andean Region," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 296-323, June.
    25. Dai Quy Le & Daisung Jang, 2023. "Individual Differences and Situational Constraint Predict Information Search in Negotiation Planning," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 667-699, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maarten C.J. van Rooij & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob J.M. Alessie, 2012. "Financial Literacy, Retirement Planning and Household Wealth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(560), pages 449-478, May.
    2. Pier-André Bouchard St-Amant & Jean-Denis Garon, 2015. "Optimal redistributive pensions and the cost of self-control," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(5), pages 723-740, October.
    3. Strulik, Holger & Werner, Katharina, 2023. "Renewable resource use with imperfect self-control," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 778-795.
    4. Cagri S. Kumru & Athanasios C. Thanopoulos, 2011. "Self-control Preferences and Taxation: A Quantitative Analysis in a Life Cycle Model," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2011-546, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    5. John Gathergood & Joerg Weber, 2012. "Self-Control, Financial Literacy and Co-Holding Puzzle," Discussion Papers 2012-02, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    6. Preuss, Malte, 2021. "Intra-individual stability of two survey measures on forward-looking attitude," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 201-227.
    7. Balbus, Łukasz & Reffett, Kevin & Woźny, Łukasz, 2022. "Time-consistent equilibria in dynamic models with recursive payoffs and behavioral discounting," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    8. Kumru, Cagri S. & Thanopoulos, Athanasios C., 2011. "Social security reform with self-control preferences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 886-899, August.
    9. Kumru, Cagri S. & Tran, Chung, 2012. "Temptation and social security in a dynastic framework," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1422-1445.
    10. Love, David & Phelan, Gregory, 2015. "Hyperbolic discounting and life-cycle portfolio choice," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 492-524, October.
    11. Margaret Miller & Julia Reichelstein & Christian Salas & Bilal Zia, 2015. "Can You Help Someone Become Financially Capable? A Meta-Analysis of the Literature," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 220-246.
    12. De Paola, Maria & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2015. "Procrastination, academic success and the effectiveness of a remedial program," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 217-236.
    13. Stefano DellaVigna, 2009. "Psychology and Economics: Evidence from the Field," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 315-372, June.
    14. Shapiro, Jesse M., 2005. "Is there a daily discount rate? Evidence from the food stamp nutrition cycle," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2-3), pages 303-325, February.
    15. O'Donoghue, Ted & Rabin, Matthew, 2008. "Procrastination on long-term projects," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 161-175, May.
    16. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2007. "Financial literacy and retirement planning: New evidence from the Rand American Life Panel," CFS Working Paper Series 2007/33, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    17. Sandro Ambuehl & B. Douglas Bernheim & Annamaria Lusardi, 2022. "Evaluating Deliberative Competence: A Simple Method with an Application to Financial Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(11), pages 3584-3626, November.
    18. Alois Stutzer & Armando N. Meier, 2016. "Limited Self‐control, Obesity, and the Loss of Happiness," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(11), pages 1409-1424, November.
    19. van Rooij, Maarten C.J. & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob J.M., 2011. "Financial literacy and retirement planning in the Netherlands," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 593-608, August.
    20. Woźny, Łukasz, 2015. "On incentives, temptation and self-control," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 60-67.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:48:y:2014:i:2:p:274-300. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-0078 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.