When the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) funded its first-ever research grant in 2006, I was just learning how to tie my shoes. Two decades later, I find myself working alongside dedicated colleagues at NEFE and completely awestruck at the rich history and evolution of the field of financial education. In cataloging the first project and the 52 grants thereafter, I realized that while I was completing my education, NEFE was doing the work to support my financial future and the nation’s. Since 2006, NEFE has awarded over $7.6 million to researchers and assisted in expanding the number of state financial education requirements from three (Utah, Missouri and Virginia) to 30 states.
The Grants Catalog is a comprehensive digital archive of all NEFE-funded research projects, offering searchable, digestible project summaries and findings, along with researcher information and links to published papers. More than simply a historical record, the grants catalog is a tool for accessibility, and in a world where data is locked behind paywalls and funding is limited, NEFE prioritizes democratized research so that our partners are both informed and bolstered by the work done thus far. We also see the catalog as an opportunity to appreciate the “standard of excellence” we have built while also acknowledging that there is more we seek to understand. Looking at these projects chronologically, we can recognize how our priorities as an organization and as a field have shifted to meet the needs of our communities and must continue to do so.
To see more of our research history or to download the Grants Catalog, click here.
The decision to pivot from curriculum and program development to prioritize the funding of scholarly research was not made lightly. However, as the field matures, so does our strategy. We realize that for programs and materials to be truly effective, we must understand the systems shaping the financial landscape and how we interact with them. To do so, we pursue rigorous, intentional research inquiry.
For example, NEFE partnered with Wendy Way, Ph.D., at the University of Wisconsin in 2006 to launch “Teacher’s Background and Capacity to Teach Personal Finance” (Grants Catalog, p. 13), which addressed a significant gap in national data. This was the first national survey to assess K-12 educators’ preparedness and interest in integrating financial education into the classroom. The survey revealed that teachers need assistance in learning more about both the financial education subject matter and pedagogy, and seldom felt qualified to instruct a financial education course, specifically in “technical topic areas” such as risk management, insurance and saving. This project inspired an examination of the teacher professional development landscape and paved the way for future NEFE-funded research.
Another early study funded by NEFE was “Arizona Pathways to Life Success for University Students (APLUS)” (Grants Catalog, pp. 14-18). Led by Soyeon Shim, Ph.D., this first-of-its-kind longitudinal study followed millennial students from their freshman year of college into the early years of adulthood, assessing progress across domains such as financial socialization, development of a financial identity, impact of work and relationships on financial behavior, and even the immediate effects of the 2008 financial crisis. The ability to analyze real-world events and their impact on young adults sparked intrigue and can even be tied to ideas later developed within NEFE’s Personal Finance Ecosystem, such as how unexpected events and behavior influencers play a role in an individual’s financial actions and outcomes.
NEFE’s initial funding priorities were established through the Quarter Century Project though they were originally categorized as “research needs.” These focus areas included gender-focused research, diminished capacity, employer engagement, social learning, and the integration of financial products and education, which guided our early efforts to build a robust evidence base. In the years that followed, our research team was created, and we hosted nine research forums and funded 13 projects to inform these topic areas.
The impact of this strategy is evident throughout the Grants Catalog from 2010-2019, where our research spanned a comprehensive array of issues. During this period, we dove deep into demographic security with Karen Richman’s, Ph.D., study highlighting the significance of gender in retirement savings (p. 25) and Gilberto Cárdenas’, Ph.D., study exploring the retirement implications for immigrants (p. 22). We also addressed health and lifespan challenges with Daniel Marson’s, Ph.D., project, which identified early warning signs of cognitive impairment (p. 29); while Eric Johnson, Ph.D., analyzed financial outcomes across the human lifespan (p. 26). By also investigating youth debt with Rachel Dwyer, Ph.D., (p. 34) and broader financial fragility with Annamaria Lusardi, Ph.D., (p. 35), these projects utilized diverse evaluation methodologies and technology-driven delivery to lay the groundwork for our current understanding of financial well-being.
As part of NEFE’s 2019-2024 Strategic Plan, we updated our funding priorities to encapsulate measurement, systemic inequality, data and methodological limitations, and youth focus. While our funded projects help us progressively inform the field, there are still opportunities to continue learning, particularly in standardizing data collection and including understudied populations. Coming out of this strategic plan, many of our grantees are making monumental strides on this front.
For instance, the Individual Financial Access Scale (IFAS), developed by Julie Birkenmaier, Ph.D., at the University of St. Louis, aims to assess financial access using a holistic measurement of often-overlooked variables, such as individual capability and access to financial products (p. 52). At the University of Alabama, Casey Totenhagen, Ph.D., validated a commonly used financial well-being scale for use among sexual and gender minority groups (p. 53). Both NEFE-funded studies sought to provide informed insights into existing and potential tools for accurately identifying community needs. Along the same lines, Ann Berry, Ph.D., at the University of Tennessee Extension, conducted a mixed methods study among Tennessee personal finance teachers, “listening to learn” about the needs of our educators (p. 49). This study builds on the aforementioned K-12 preparedness study (p. 13), raising similar concerns about access to resources and materials, and new concerns about content relevance. Across the spectrum of studies funded from 2019-2024, each NEFE grantee profoundly contributed to the field’s body of knowledge and the questions we still hope to answer.
As NEFE embarks on our 2026-2028 Strategic Plan, “Systemic Impact: Shaping the Future of Financial Education,” our research funding priorities reflect our new strategic guiding statement: To improve financial well-being for all through access, quality and impact of equitable K-12 and postsecondary financial education systems. As an organization, we know that financial education works; we have moved past the need to prove its value and are now focused on scaling its impact. By narrowing our research scope to K-12 and postsecondary considerations, we place emphasis on the pathways learners take, the quality of financial education being provided and the impact of effective financial education on the life course. We ensure that our work is taking steps to examine the systems that act as barriers to effective uptake of financial education, where we fit within them, and how to best navigate them.
We are seeing new barriers arise for researchers, practitioners and policymakers in this space. From funding cuts and legislative surprises to community uncertainty, we know that our role is not to continue as usual, but take time to look at what we know, what we don’t know, what we wish to know and how we will find out. While I am still very much learning to “tie my shoes” when it comes to strategic pivots, I am grateful to be at an organization that has long since kept its stride. I feel confident that the next iteration of research funding will bring new insights and actionable steps to the forefront of our work. If there is one thing that 53 research grants taught us, it’s to adjust, and keep adjusting. Change is uncomfortable, but growth happens when we choose to embrace it and keep moving forward.
The Grants Catalog has been a vital resource for bridging NEFE’s history with our future strategy. For researchers and practitioners, it serves as a searchable archive of evidence-based insights, helping the field identify existing gaps and build upon established data. By providing this foundation, the catalog offers the necessary context as we embark on more systems-level lines of inquiry. I look forward to the insights this next chapter will uncover for both our organization and the broader financial education community.
If you or someone you know is interested in NEFE research funding, please visit the Get Funding page.
