When I First Learned about Retirement: Financial and Retirement Concept Recognition among College Students

Abstract

It has long been argued that financial literacy education should begin in childhood or adolescence, but little is currently known about the ages at which individuals come to understand basic retirement and financial planning concepts. The primary goal of the present investigation is to provide data that reflect the reported ages at which key general and technical retirement planning concepts are acquired. A secondary goal is to identify individual difference dimensions—including one’s financial literacy level and early parental learning experiences—that are associated with the age at which key concepts are reportedly acquired. Retrospective reports obtained from a sample of 646 college students revealed that an understanding of general concepts was widespread and took place during the pre-teen and early teenage years. Understanding of the technical concepts was suboptimal, however. Nearly half of the sample were unfamiliar with most of the technical terms. Among those who were familiar with the technical concepts, learning reportedly occurred later in adolescence. Understanding of both sets of concepts was linked to higher financial literacy scores and saving lessons learned during childhood from one’s parents. Results have implications for financial literacy intervention programs designed to target children, adolescents, and young adults.