New Survey Finds Majority of Americans Confused About Personal Finance

WASHINGTON DC – With tomorrow marking the start of “Economic Literacy Month,” the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy (CEEL), Econ4U.org, today released a new survey that underscores the need for increased education on personal finance and economic issues. The national survey conducted last week shows that an overwhelming number of Americans are unable to answer even the most basic questions about borrowing, interest rates, and economic terms.

Startling highlights from the multiple choice survey include:

• 53% of respondents did not know what the Dow Jones Industrial Average was.
• 52% could not describe the advantages of a Roth IRA.
• 43% could not identify a FICO score as the most important factor in receiving a loan.
• 76% did not know that when in need of short-term emergency cash, bouncing a check costs more than wire transfers and short-term payday loans.
• 71% of people severely underestimated the amount of time it would take to pay off a credit card balance making only the minimum payments.

Later this week CEEL will release further details of the survey which will show how Americans are coping with the financial crisis as well as how it has affected them.

"Considering the wall-to-wall media coverage of the financial crisis, it is startling to see how few Americans have a grasp on the most basic economic facts,” said James Bowers, managing director for CEEL.  "It is clear that we need to increase personal finance education at all ages so we have better informed employees, borrowers, and voters. Americans need the tools to understand both their own personal finances and the economy at large."