U.S. FINANCIAL LITERACY AND EDUCATION COMMISSION
U.S. NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR FINANCIAL LITERACY 2020
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1. Introduction
Financial education is key to unlocking the foundations of economic opportunity
and powering a strong and resilient economy. Americans must acquire nancial
skills and knowledge to fully participate in our dynamic economy.
Financial education is key to unlocking the foun-
dations of economic opportunity and powering
a strong and resilient economy. Americans must
acquire nancial skills and knowledge to fully par-
ticipate in our dynamic economy. In a 2018 study,
only one-third of adults could answer at least four
of ve nancial literacy questions on fundamen-
tal concepts such as mortgages, interest rates,
ination and risk.
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Similarly, a 2018 assessment
of 15-year-old students found that 16 percent
were below a procient level of nancial literacy,
22 percent demonstrated a basic level of nan-
cial literacy, while 12 percent successfully demon-
strated the highest level of nancial skills assessed.
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Additional performance gaps persist in nancial
literacy between minority populations and the U.S.
population as a whole.
For example, the same studies found that African-
American and Hispanic adults answered fewer
nancial literacy questions correctly than did
White and Asian respondents.
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White and Asian
1. Lin, Judy T, Christopher Bumcrot, Tippy Ulicny, et al., e State of U.S. Financial Capability: e 2018 National Financial Capability Study, FINRA
Investor Education Foundation, June 2019, available at: https://www.usnancialcapability.org/downloads/NFCS_2018_Report_Natl_Findings.pdf.
2. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), PISA 2018 Results (Volume IV): Are Students Smart about Money?
Programme for International Student Assessment, OECD Publishing, 2020, available at: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/pisa-2018-
results-volume-iv-48ebd1ba-en.htm.
3. Terms on race and ethnicity are those used in the cited reports. White and Asian adults answered on average 3.2 out of 6 questions correctly,
compared to 2.6 and 2.3 for Hispanic and African-American adults respectively. Lin, Judy T, Christopher Bumcrot, Tippy Ulicny, et al., e
State of U.S. Financial Capability: e 2018 National Financial Capability Study, FINRA Investor Education Foundation, June 2019, available at:
https://www.usnancialcapability.org/downloads/NFCS_2018_Report_Natl_Findings.pdf.
4. Terms on race and ethnicity are those used in the cited reports. Average scores were 554 for Asian students, 532 for White students, 475 for
Hispanic students and 446 for Black students. e overall average was 506. U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences,
National Center for Education Statistics, Highlights of U.S. PISA 2018 Results Web Report (NCES 2020-166 and 2020-072), 2020, available at
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2018/index.asp.
5. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Federal Financial Literacy Reform: Coordinating and Improving Financial Literacy Eorts, July 2019, (hereafter,
FFLR), available at: https://home.treasury.gov/system/les/136/FFLRCoordinatingImprovingFinancialLiteracyEorts.pdf.
6. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Financial well-being: e goal of nancial education, January 2015, available at: https://les.
consumernance.gov/f/201501_cfpb_report_nancial-well-being.pdf.
15-year-olds, on average, had substantially higher
nancial literacy scores than the overall U.S. aver-
age of students in this cohort while Hispanic and
African-American/Black students had substan-
tially lower than average scores.
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Dening Financial Literacy and Education
Financial literacy describes the skills, knowledge
and tools that equip people to make individual
nancial decisions and actions to attain their goals;
this may also be known as nancial capability,
especially when paired with access to nancial
products and services.
Financial education is the process by which people
gain information, skills, condence and motivation
to act, through various means, including classroom
education, one-on-one counseling and coaching,
technology-based interventions, and self–study
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A key desired outcome for nancial education is
sustained nancial well-being, in which people can
fully meet current and ongoing nancial obligations,
can feel secure in their nancial future, and are able to
make choices that allow enjoyment of life.
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