New research shows that financial stress and anxiety is tied to low levels of financial literacy. Building on data from the US National Financial Capability Study, researchers from the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) reached this conclusion through interviews with focus groups at the end of 2020.

The HSRC’s 2018 Financial Literacy Study (for the FSCA) went far beyond the “big three” but very few adults answered an arithmetically based question on inflation correctly, though they were aware of the rising cost of living, and only about a third were able to perform a simple compounding calculation.