Policy makers have embraced financial education as a necessary antidote to the increasing complexity of consumers’ financial decisions over the last generation. This research conducts a meta-analysis of the relationship of financial literacy and of financial education to financial behaviours in 168 papers covering 201 prior studies. The researchers suggest a real but narrower role for “just in time” financial education tied to specific behaviours it intends to help. We conclude with a discussion of the characteristics of behaviours that might affect the policy maker’s mix of financial education, choice architecture, and regulation as tools to help consumer financial behaviour.