An Analysis of Personal Financial Literacy among Educators

This study surveys 283 educators studying at universities and teachers' colleges in Israel. These educators voluntarily filled out a questionnaire designed to examine their personal financial literacy (FL). The relationships between their background characteristics, financial behavior, financial awareness, and FL are examined. Results show that the participants answered about 42% of the questions correctly, reflecting a low level of FL. Specific characteristics were found to be predictors of FL, with sport, art, and music teachers, educators enrolled in principals' preparation or BA programs, ethnic minorities, less experienced educators, non-secular educators, and low (SES) educators displaying lower levels of FL, compared with their respective counterparts. Educators who were less exposed to financial information via the media also displayed lower levels of FL. Finally, most of the educators surveyed made inadequate decisions when presented with hypothetical financial situations. The low level of FL amongst educators may also affect the next generation's FL.