scholarly journals Retirement Preparedness: How Important Is Being Financially Literate?

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 445-445
Author(s):  
Mengya Wang ◽  
Suzanne Bartholomae

Abstract Financial security in retirement is a major concern for many Americans. Numerous studies document that Americans are not prepared for retirement, with financial illiteracy cited as one reason Americans fail to plan. Employing data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study (N=27,091), this study investigates actual financial literacy (AFL) and perceived financial literacy (PFL) and how combinations of this measure influences retirement planning, and varies based on years from retirement. This study found relatively low financial literacy and retirement preparedness levels among the US sample, even for those pre-retirees ages 55 to 64. Individually, PFL and AFL increased as one approached retirement. When combined, adults nearing retirement (55 to 64) comprised the greatest proportion of the high AFL and high PFL (29.9%) group compared to adults 20 years or more from retirement (18-44) who largely made up the low AFL and PFL (48%) group. Based on a logistic regression, adults closest to retirement (ages 55 to 64) are more likely to be planning compared to the other groups, as are adults who were financially confident, risk takers, highly educated, males, and white. Compared to adults with high AFL and high PFL, adults with low AFL and low PFL, or a combination (low PFL and high AFL, high PFL and low AFL) have lower odds of preparing for retirement. Both PFL and AFL influences retirement planning, and PFL may be as important as AFL. Our highlight the importance of policies and programs to support Americans with retirement planning.

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNAMARIA LUSARDI ◽  
OLIVIA S. MITCHELL

AbstractWe examine financial literacy in the US using the new National Financial Capability Study, wherein we demonstrate that financial literacy is particularly low among the young, women, and the less-educated. Moreover, Hispanics and African-Americans score the least well on financial literacy concepts. Interestingly, all groups rate themselves as rather well-informed about financial matters, notwithstanding their actual performance on the key literacy questions. Finally, we show that people who score higher on the financial literacy questions are much more likely to plan for retirement, which is likely to leave them better positioned for old age. Our results will inform those seeking to target financial literacy programmes to those in most need.


Author(s):  
Huong Do

Abstract : In the context of a “getting old before getting rich” population, pension schemes in Vietnam are now facing many challenges which may lead to depletion in 2034 if no effective reform takes place shortly. Though there is still no blueprint for a nationwide reform, household behavior adjustments such as better retirement preparedness and planning may create important changes. By examining the current state of financial literacy and the elderly’s financial situation, the research reveals that financial literacy is of primary importance for retirement security in Vietnam.


Author(s):  
Michael Ahmed

This paper re-evaluates the significance of Sir Curtis Seretse, a black character from the 1960s television series Department S (ITV 1969-70) which has largely been ignored. While earlier critical and academic discourse of Department S has primarily centred on the flamboyant Jason King, the importance of Seretse’s character has been overlooked. Seretse, as the head of Department S, is in a position of authority and power over the other (white) characters of the show. Furthermore, he represents a highly educated character that converses on equal terms with Prime Ministers and Presidents, a unique representation of a black character on British television at that time. Seretse’s appearance on prime time television, at a period when black performers in the media were invariably confined to little more than token characters, is therefore worthy of further attention. This paper examines how Seretse represents a different type of black character not previously seen on British television, when compared to the representations of racial problems on other television crime dramas.


Author(s):  
José van

The epilogue sketches a few scenarios on potential geopolitical consequences of the global paradigm shift toward multiple online platform “spheres.” Currently, the neoliberal US-based platform ecosystem dominates. This ecosystem revolves around the promotion of individualism and minimal state interference, leaving checks and balances to the market. On the other end of the ideological spectrum is the Chinese ecosystem, in which the autocratic regime controls the platform ecosystem via regulated censorship of tech corporations. Squeezed between the US and the Chinese models is the European Union, whose member states neither own nor operate any major platforms in either ecosystem. For European democracies to survive in the information age, its cities, national governments, and supranational legislature need to collaborate on a blueprint for a common digital strategy toward markets and public sectors.


Author(s):  
Samuel K. Cohn, Jr.

This book challenges a dominant hypothesis in the study of epidemics. From an interdisciplinary array of scholars, a consensus has emerged: invariably, epidemics in past times provoked class hatred, blame of the ‘other’, or victimization of the diseases’ victims. It is also claimed that when diseases were mysterious, without cures or preventive measures, they more readily provoked ‘sinister connotations’. The evidence for these assumptions, however, comes from a handful of examples—the Black Death, the Great Pox at the end of the sixteenth century, cholera riots of the 1830s, and AIDS, centred almost exclusively on the US experience. By investigating thousands of descriptions of epidemics, reaching back before the fifth-century BCE Plague of Athens to the eruption of Ebola in 2014, this study traces epidemics’ socio-psychological consequences across time and discovers a radically different picture. First, scholars, especially post-AIDS, have missed a fundamental aspect of the history of epidemics: their remarkable power to unify societies across class, race, ethnicity, and religion, spurring self-sacrifice and compassion. Second, hatred and violence cannot be relegated to a time when diseases were mysterious, before the ‘laboratory revolution’ of the late nineteenth century: in fact, modernity was the great incubator of a disease–hate nexus. Third, even with diseases that have tended to provoke hatred, such as smallpox, poliomyelitis, plague, and cholera, blaming ‘the other’ or victimizing disease bearers has been rare. Instead, the history of epidemics and their socio-psychological consequences has been richer and more varied than scholars and public intellectuals have heretofore allowed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-41
Author(s):  
Colin Agabalinda ◽  
Alain Vilard Ndi Isoh

The study investigated the direct effects of financial literacy (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) on financial preparedness for retirement and the moderating effect of age among the small and medium enterprises in Uganda. Primary data was collected from a sample of n = 380 selected from the SME workforce. Descriptive analysis was run on SPSS, while validity and reliability of the measurement items yielded satisfactory composite reliability scores and average variance explained (AVE) scores for all items. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses and multi-group analysis conducted to test for the moderating effect of age on the relationship between financial literacy and retirement preparedness. The results revealed that knowledge and skills were significant predictors of retirement preparedness. However, ‘attitude' was not a significant predictor, and age had no moderating effect on the relationship between the study variables. These findings present practical implications for policymakers and financial educators in a developing country context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 555-561
Author(s):  
Louise Rosenmayr-Templeton

This industry update features a round-up of pharmaceutical news in May 2019 based on press releases and websites. The month was characterized by the achievement of significant milestones in gene therapy. The biggest of these was the US FDA’s approval of Zolgensma®. This medicine sums up the promise and price of genetic medicine. On one hand the clinical results show Zolgensma can dramatically improve the prognosis for infants with spinal muscular atrophy after just one administration, while on the other, it has been priced at around US$2.1 million. With more such therapies likely to reach the market, the debate on Zolgensma goes beyond cost, to overall affordability, the true meaning of cost–effectiveness and how to reward companies for effective, innovative medicines.


Catalysts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Miguel Ladero

Energy policies in the US and in the EU during the last decades have been focused on enhanced oil and gas recovery, including the so-called tertiary extraction or enhanced oil recovery (EOR), on one hand, and the development and implementation of renewable energy vectors, on the other, including biofuels as bioethanol (mainly in US and Brazil) and biodiesel (mainly in the EU) [...]


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