Financial Literacy of Adults in Germany FILSA Study Results

Abstract

The steady growing of online financial services due to the vanishing of on-site banking offers is changing the socio-economic framework individuals make financial decisions in. Financial literacy as an essential part of basic education is therefore also subject to changes. In order to investigate the individual competence of the respondents with regard to financially determined life situations, a digital questionnaire survey with integrated simulation sequences was conducted. For this purpose, a testing instrument (FILSA—Financial Literacy Study of Adults) has been developed to measure the financial literacy of adults. The validity of the construct including its five content areas was tested and the relationships between the manifest exogenous variables and financial literacy were mapped in a structural equation model. It introduces the participants (N = 212) to various financial problems and offers specific aids for founded decision-making. The study’s evaluation system takes into account the participants’ individual behavior in three case studies as well as the impact of attitude and socio-demographic factors on their decisions and behaviors, such as gender, age, and their degree of internet affinity. FILSA examines how adults make decisions with regard to finances and what benefit or impact online tools and financial advisors have on the decision-making process. Furthermore, it is possible to develop concepts for self-learning that are comprised in online tools for decision-making.