Financial Behaviors, Government Assistance, and Financial Satisfaction

Abstract

Using data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), this study examined the relationships between poor financial behaviors, receiving government assistance, and financial satisfaction while accounting for adverse financial experiences. The logistic regression results showed that both poor financial behaviors and adverse financial experiences increased the likelihood of receiving government assistance. The OLS results indicated that receiving government assistance significantly increased levels of financial satisfaction, whereas poor financial behaviors significantly decreased levels of financial satisfaction. While the magnitude of these associations for both receiving government assistance and poor financial behaviors was small, adverse financial experiences had a stronger influence on the levels of financial satisfaction. When we combined poor financial behaviors and receiving government assistance into a categorical variable, we gained additional insights into the connections between these constructs that warrants further research.