This thesis argues that consumer financial literacy is not a solution but a tool that mystifies and supports the very problems it could help solve: exploitation, economic crises, the spread of neoliberalism, alienation and the further disempowerment of the citizen. The characterization and implementation of financial literacy programs influence the resources and subjectivities that we use to act, see, reflect, create the world and create ourselves, resources and subjectivities that should support our free actions and enable us to do more than conform to the dictates of capital and be more than neoliberal entrepreneurial consumers. In the place of consumer financial literacy, we need a critical financial literacy that supports active citizens. The citizen is not the alienated investor or consumer who can only choose what the market provides; instead, he or she can assist in altering or abolishing the market to create a new economic system that offers better choices. A critical financial literacy would encourage citizens to reflect on and transform the social relations of production in order to create a world, free from capital’s dictates, in which individuals are as free from necessity as possible and better able to develop their human capacities to the fullest.

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Thesis (M.Fin.-Res.)--University of Wollongong, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 144-147.

This DBA thesis is an empirical study of the new private pension programme in Thailand, an Employee’s Choice (EC) programme, which is structured as a self-directed defined contribution plan that permits workers to make their own investment decisions for their pension assets. The growing acceptance of the new pension programme is placing greater responsibility for managing pension assets on workers. The shift from committee-directed pension plans to self-directed pension plans has meant that Thai workers now must make investment decisions, such as what type of plan to choose and how to allocate their pension assets among different asset classes. This raises some concerns about the financial literacy of workers and their ability to make informed decisions. This study aims to analyse the effectiveness of this programme by examining empirical evidence from a case study. Specifically, it asks whether workers are able to make appropriate investment decisions for their pension plans as investment theory has suggested. This study has shown that the new pension programme in this case study is effective. Most importantly, the study finds that, regardless of their level of financial literacy, workers are able to make reasonable investment choices as suggested by portfolio and lifecycle investing theories. Specifically, when workers were offered investment options ranging from low risk to high risk, workers are able to choose investment choices consistent with their age and risk tolerance. However, this study finds that financial literacy does matter if workers are asked to make asset allocation decisions instead of choosing between options. The study finds that workers with low levels of financial literacy are likely to allocate less of their pension assets in equities. The findings from this study make several contributions to the growing literature on household finance. In addition, this study has a number of important management implications for pension design. With the simple plan design which offers choices ranging from low risk to high risk, workers appear to make rational investment decisions regardless of their level of financial knowledge. Therefore, the simple plan design could be very useful for workers who have less financial knowledge. This research has also shown that many workers do not plan to review or revise their portfolios as lifecycle theory has suggested. The implication from this study is that the new self-directed pension programme is not effective in the long-run. There is, therefore, a definite need for a better pension design. Innovative pension design should be used in order to minimize workers’ investment mistakes. This study advocates the use of lifecycle funds and recommends policymakers to promote and support the usage of lifecycle funds in the Thai private pension context.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor Of Philosophy in the Department of Library and Information Studies at the University Of Zululand, 2018 / Human civilisation has been characterised by numerous revolutions, with the most recent one being the information revolution. Information is driving development in all spheres of life: social, political, economic, health and human services. For effective utilisation of information, a special kind of literacy beyond functional literacy or the ability to read and write is required. This kind of literacy is what is commonly referred to as Information literacy (IL). Researchers are increasingly designating several types of literacy. Financial literacy, which is the ability to understand the fundamentals of money management, namely budgeting, spending, saving, investment, the use of financial products and services like government financial assistance programmes, banking and insurance; basic numeric skills and debt levels, is at the core of this study. The overall aim of the study was to establish the financial literacy competences of women entrepreneurs and determine their impact on women’s economic empowerment. The overall aim of the research was to identify the financial literacy skills of women entrepreneurs and to study their role in women's economic empowerment. The study's objectives were: 1) To determine the financial literacy skills of women entrepreneurs in Kenya; 2) To determine the level of economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs. 3) To determine the relationship between financial literacy and women's economic empowerment and 4) To suggest a model for the enhancement of the financial literacy skills of women entrepreneurs in Kenya. The following research questions were addressed to realise the objectives of the study: 1) What are the financial literacy skills of women entrepreneurs in Kenya? 2) What is the level of economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs? 3) What is the relationship between women’s financial literacy and their economic empowerment? 4) Which is the best model for enhancing financial literacy skills of women entrepreneurs in Kenya? The study used the mixed method approach which is normally associated with Pragmatic paradigm. The study combined the Positivist/postpositivist approach, which is associated with quantitative data, and Constructivist approaches which emphasise the socially constructed nature of reality and are therefore associated with qualitative data. The study was carried out using the survey research design because of its ability to capture the complexities of the issues under study using only a small sample of the population. Purposive sampling was used to select 105 women’s groups who had obtained loans from the Uwezo Fund in Chuka Constituency in the financial year 2013/2014. Both random and stratified sampling technique was applied to select the women entrepreneurs who formed the sample. The number of respondents from each stratum was proportionate to the size of the different strata of enterprises funded. In order to reduce possible sampling error, a total of 400 respondents were selected. Detailed questionnaires with both structured and open-ended questions were used to collect data. Discrete data was analysed using the Statistics and Data (STATA) package to generate descriptive statistics such as frequencies (counts) and percentages to describe data on the various variables. Cross-tabulation analysis was conducted to simultaneously analyse the relationship between two or more variables in the study. Causal analysis that is concerned with the study of how one variable affects changes in another variable, was used to determine how financial literacy skills affect women's economic empowerment, which is one of the research questions. A chi-square test of independence was then carried out to assess the degree of association between these variables. Research findings confirm that financial literacy skills are a major factor in women's economic empowerment, but that some financial literacy skills have a greater impact than others. Women entrepreneurs acquire financial literacy skills through social constructionism. Lack of financial literacy skills is hindering women entrepreneurs from becoming economically empowered. A willingness to invest in a risky business venture 239 (62.57%), lack of basic numeric skills 237 (61.88%), and taking loans without considering the cost 88 (71.42%) is undermining women’s economic empowerment. This is demonstrated by the fact that 78 (20.47%) of the respondents feel that their financial status is out of control and 153 (40.26%) feel uncomfortable about their current debt status. This study proposes that regular assessment of women entrepreneurs’ financial literacy skills be carried out and tailor-made training courses to fulfil these needs be introduced. Priority should be given to topics such as computing, loans, reading and understanding bank statements, budgeting, spending, saving and investing in business ventures. In order to increase the number of women entrepreneurs included in formal financial services, financial institutions should offer women financial products that suit them.

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Lietuvoje iki šiol nėra atliktas į studentus orientuotas finansinio raštingumo vertinimas, o taip pat itin trūksta kompleksinių minėto raštingumo ir iracionalios finansinės elgsenos ryšio tyrimų. Todėl šio darbo tikslas yra parengti finansinio raštingumo lygio vertinimo metodiką, nustatyti studentų finansinio raštingumo lygį, išskirti pagrindinius jį lemiančius veiksnius ir ištirti finansinio raštingumo lygio ir iracionalios finansinės elgsenos ryšį. Pirmoje darbo dalyje atlikta šios tematikos mokslinių tyrimų analizė. Antroje dalyje sudaryta finansinio raštingumo lygio vertinimo metodika, išskirti pagrindiniai, galimai įtaką darantys, veiksniai ir iracionalios finansinės elgsenos elementai. Trečioje darbo dalyje, taikant sudarytą metodologiją, apskaičiuota, jog Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto studentų finansinio raštingumo lygis yra vidutinis. Atskleistos mažiausiai studentams žinomos sritys: kredito unijų veikla, finansinių instrumentų rizika, sudėtinių palūkanų principas, euro įvedimo pasekmės. Nustatyta, jog pinigų kaupimas pensijų fonde, studijavimas ekonomikos ir vadybos fakulteto studijų programose, kursas, vyriška lytis ir amžius teigiamai siejasi su finansinio raštingumo lygiu, o darbo ir skolinimosi kredito įstaigoje patirtys – reikšmingos įtakos neturi. Taip pat nustatyta, jog finansinio raštingumo lygio augimas nemažina iracionalios finansinės elgsenos pasireiškimo. / Currently in Lithuania there is no assessment which was aimed to evaluate students' financial literacy level, also there is a critical shortage of complex financial literacy and irrational behavior relation research. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop a financial literacy assessment methodology to determine students' level of financial literacy, to highlight its main determinants and to investigate the relation between financial literacy level and irrational financial behavior. Researches of this finance field are analyzed in the first part of this paper. Financial literacy assessment methodology is created, main financial literacy factors and irrational financial behavior elements are chosen in the second part of this work. Applied methodology results are shown in the third part of this work. It is estimated that students‟ financial literacy level is average at Vytautas Magnus University. The least known areas for students are revealed: activity of credit union, financial instruments risk, principle of compound interest, consequences of euro establishment. It was found that the accumulation of money in a pension fund, studying at Economics and Management Faculty, year of study, male gender and age are positively related to the level of financial literacy. Work and borrowing from credit institution experiences have no impact. It was also found that the growth of financial literacy level does not reduce the occurrence of irrational financial behavior.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the current level of financial education at secondary schools in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part of this thesis is focused on knowledge of financial education, financial literacy and Standard of the Financial Literacy. At the same time, the results of the international PISA 2012 survey are described here. The essence of the empirical part is a research project. The main objective of this research is to determine whether and how deeply secondary schools incorporate Standard of the Financial Literacy into their School Education Programs. On the basis of this survey, the conclusions as well as suggestions and recommendations for pedagogical practice are presented.

The subject of the thesis is to analyze the "Financial literacy in elementary schools", focused on the second stage of elementary school, 6th -- 9th class of Klatovy. Theoretical and methodological part of the thesis describes financial literacy, its allocation to cash, cost and budget literacy. Furthermore, it gives the demographic, political and economic reasons for the implementation of financial education and the social and psychological aspects of human behavior in relation to financial literacy. The application part is focused on the comparison of curricula for elementary schools, which have the second stage of Klatovy. This part will be followed by a survey, which is the basic framework of the application part. There are three defined hypotheses, which are confirmed by the conclusions of this section. The questionnaire survey helped to show the real state of financial education at district of Klatovy.

Financial planning has often been thought of as the most useful financial resource for the average American family. Prior to the Great Recession of 2008, research on factors that influence financial literacy has been scarce in academic journals. Very few resources are available to help guide household finance. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine factors that influenced financial literacy in U.S. households. Using existing financial literacy quiz questions, a personal financial literacy quiz was given to a sample of Debtors and Non-debtors in the Middle District of North Carolina. An average quiz score was developed for each participant, and was used as the dependent variable for the study. Various survey questions were used to develop 149 independent variables broken up into demographic factors, psychological factors, and financial behaviors for the same participant. Regression analyses were used to determine which of the 149 independent variables were significantly related to financial literacy. Factor analysis was also used to determined factors of financial literacy. The study found 125 significant factors of financial literacy in 16 different categories including: demographic factors, psychological factors, financial actions, financial attitudes, planning actions, mortgage decisions, budgeting habits, goal planning, retirement planning, credit management, income planning, insurance planning, mortgage debt ratios, savings planning, investment planning, and financial self-control. Future studies can expand the sample size to include all 50 states, and to help determine which factors of financial literacy should be used in building a personal financial planning model that all professionals and families can use to maximize personal financial success.