A Review of Effectiveness Evidence in the Financial‐Helping Fields

• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Author: Jeffrey Dew,Luke Dean,Stephen F. Duncan,Sonya Britt‐Lutter
• Date: 01 July 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12445

J DBrigham Young University

L DUtah Valley University

S F. DBrigham Young University

S B-LKansas State University

A Review of Effectiveness Evidence in the

Financial-Helping Fields

Objective: We reviewed the literature on four

nancial-helping elds—the family resource

management content area of family life edu-

cation, nancial education, personal nancial

planning, and nancial counseling—in search

of best evidence-based practices when working

with individuals and families concerning issues

related to money.

Method: Experts in each eld of the nancial

helping professions reviewed common practices

in their own eld and identied best practices

when possible.

Results: Although we found that reviews of

nancial education outcome research exist,

researchers and practitioners have made few

attempts to examine best practices in these

elds; most of the practices that professionals

use in these four elds have not been empiri-

cally tested for effectiveness. Consequently, we

provide a general overviewof common practices

within the four elds.

Implications: We implore practitioners and

researchers to undertake evaluation research as

a means to decipher what works, for whom it

works, and to what extent it works.

School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, 2101

JFSB, Provo, UT 84620 (jeff_dew@byu.edu).

KeyWords: evaluation, family life education, nancial coun-

seling, nancial education, nancial planning.

Many families face nancial challenges. For

example, a large national study found that

49% of participants reported that it was some-

what or very difcult to keep up with their

monthly bills, and 51% indicated that they

had no money set aside to handle unexpected

expenses (Lusardi, 2011). Furthermore, only

about a third of adults reported having $5,000

or more saved for retirement (Northwestern

Mutual, 2019). Although some of these nan-

cial circumstances are partially due to forces

outside families’ control, many families can

prevent or alleviate some of these challenges

by engaging in sound nancial management.

Thus, the purpose of this article is to review best

practices in professional elds that help individ-

uals and families learn about and manage their

nances.

Regardless of the type of nancial help

individuals use, a common goal is to expand

one’s nancial capability. Financial capability

includes knowledge about nancial products

and institutions, skills, attitudes (e.g., willing-

ness and condence), and behaviors (Lusardi,

2011; see also Huston, 2010). The level of

nancial security that individuals and families

obtain and maintain is also an important con-

sideration as it relates to nancial capability

(Kozup & Hogarth, 2008). Finally, some recent

conceptualizations of nancial capability also

include individuals’ access to institutions and

614Family Relations 69 (July 2020): 614–627

DOI:10.1111/fare.12445