Differences in Financial Literacy Across Generations

The United States federal government allocates $670 million annually towards financial literacy despite the fact 73 million adults are struggling financially, and over 65% of Americans are financially illiterate and unable to manage their finances. The specific management problem addressed in this study was the awareness of the differences in financial literacy between Millennials and Generation Xers who have and have not taken personal finance courses in high school in the United States. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental, causal-comparative study was to test the self-efficacy theory and goal-setting theory in determining the differences between the two generational groups of Millennials and Generation Xers, regarding financial literacy education during high school years in the United States. Using a two-way analysis of variance for statistical analysis, she examined 2018 secondary data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation to test the hypotheses. The purposive sample consisted of 7,481 Millennials and 9,191 Generation Xers anonymously selected by email and phone interviews from all states in America who fit the study criteria. Millennials have a level of financial literacy different from Generation Xers with p \u3c .001. Individuals who took a personal finance course in high school have a different level of financial literacy than those who did not take a personal finance course in high school with p \u3c .001. There is no interaction between generation and high school finance courses with p = .692. Both education leaders and government policymakers may benefit from the study results to promote the importance of financial literacy in kindergarten through high school systems for creating positive social change