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Proceedings of the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education, 2004 IMPACT OF A WORKPLACE FINANCIAL EDUCATION PROGRAM ON FINANCIAL ATTITUDE, FINANCIAL BEHAVIOR, FINANCIAL WELL-BEING, AND FINANCIAL KNOWLEDGE Jinhee Kim1, University of Maryland 1 Department of Family Studies, University of Maryland, 1204 Marie Mount Hall, College Park, MD 20742, Phone: 301-405-3500, email jinkim@umd.edu, Fax: 301-314-9161 In the United States today, financial stress means more than economic deprivation. Job instability, divorce, rising medical costs, the burdens of home ownership, and consumer debt threaten the financial security of countless Americans in all economic strata. A growing number of workers are failing to manage their money wisely. As the economy moved into a downturn, national reports reveal a drop in savings, a growth in debt, and a rise in consumer bankruptcies (American Bankruptcy Institute, 2004; Draut & Silva, 2003). Many working Americans experience financial strains. A recent national survey by American Express Retirement Services found that 60% of working Americans who are employed indicated that they were experiencing moderate to high levels of financial stress (American Express Retirement Services, 2004). More than half of employees (52%) in another recent survey report that they manage their finances by living paycheck-to-paycheck (MetLife, 2003). Financial stress is associated with individual’s well-being and their productivity at workplace (Garman, Leech, & Grable, 1996; Joo & Garman, 1999; Peirce, Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1996). Workplace financial education could help employees better manage their personal finances and improve their financial well-being. A significant number of employers are currently providing financial education programs to help employees manage their retirement plan (Bernheim & Garrett, 2003; Employee Benefits Research Institute, 2004). Workplace financial education has become popular in the 1990s, spurred in part by the increasing popularity of defined contribution plans such as 401(k) (Bernheim & Garrett, 2003). A great majority of workplace financial education programs are focusing on helping the employees better manage their retirement plans. A few recent studies found that workplace financial education was effective in improving retirement saving behaviors (Bernheim & Garrett, 1996; Bernheim & Garrett, 2003; Clark & d’Ambrosio, 2003; Clark & Shieber, 1988; Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2004). Cooperative Extension provides a variety of financial literacy education programs for public (Vitt et al., 2000). Many extension programs are being provided for employees often requested or paid by their employers at the workplace. Typically, extension programs include basic financial management such as credit management or budgeting as well as retirement planning or investing. A critical question is whether workplace financial education programs are effective methods of improving participants’ financial management and financial well-being. To date, limited research (Fletcher, Beebout, & Mendenhall, 1997) has been conducted on the impacts of Extension workplace financial education programs on individual’s personal finances. The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of the Cooperative Extension financial education program, “Prescription for Financial Wellness,” on a selected group of university employees. Specifically, the study assessed the effects of the program on employees’ financial attitude, financial knowledge, perceived financial well-being, and self-assessed financial knowledge. A pre-test/post-test design was utilized, with participants administered measures of financial knowledge, financial attitudes, financial behavior, and financial well-being and after a month-long intervention program. Literature Review Workplace Financial Education Many American workers encounter financial difficulties at some point in their lives. Numerous factors may contribute to financial stress, including unemployment, divorce, injury, illness, overspending, low financial literacy, and financial mismanagement. Even within a favorable economy, such as the one during the mid-1990’s, some groups experience more financial benefits than others. For example, while the