Women’s shelters are often the first point of contact for victim-survivors fleeing abusive relationships. Therefore, safety and shelter are logically at the forefront of staff members’ immediate concerns. Once the victim-survivor is in a place of safety, it is crucial to explore the patterns of...

Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario commissioned a research study that focused on consumer attitudes, how consumers are engaging with financial services, and consumer characteristics such as vulnerability. Insights from the research are allowing FSRA to better understand the...

The Angus Reid institute reported from a recent study that 50% of Canadians couldn’t manage an unexpected expense of $1000 or more. In the same study, when Albertans were asked what they would do with a surprise bonus or gift of $5000, 46% said they would use it to pay down debt. Only 41% said...

Just because someone has a lot of followers doesn’t mean their advice is right for you. Social media influencers are increasingly sharing information about investing. This can be done by ordinary people or by celebrities who have taken an interest in a specific product or investment. They are...

The Thriving or Surviving study uncovers the kitchen table issues that confront Canadians daily, revealing how the country is coping with concerns such as debt, savings, emergency funds and financial...

While much research has been conducted on how giving is correlated to factors like educational attainment or income level, the influence of ethnicity has been elusive. This research attempts to better understand how newcomers to Canada and second-generation Canadians perceive and approach giving...

Being aware of potential biases can help you become a better decision-maker. Use this tool to improve your awareness of different behavioural biases or “blind spots” that may influence your...

This infographic explores 3 forms of economic abuse and associated tactics used to coercively control intimate partners. These abusive tactics are compounded by economic systems that systemically oppress groups including Black, Indigenous, and people of colour; people with disabilities; people...

The coronavirus pandemic has tested the limits of Canadians over the past 20 months. What began as a health crisis quickly morphed into an economic crisis, with the spread of COVID‑19 shocking large segments of the economy and leaving many without paycheques. While no generation has been...

In 2020, The Behavioural Insights Team partnered with United Way and Oak Park Neighbourhood Centre to develop and test an email intervention to increase participation in tax filing clinics. An "active choice" email (sample email) significantly increased response rate and attendance to virtual...

Based on an extensive literature review and re-analysis of existing qualitative data, this report offers a working definition and an a priori conceptual model of financial well-being and its possible determinants. Using survey data from Norway (2016), ten regression models have been conducted to...

This study covers the rapidly growing literature on the causal effects of financial education programs in a meta-analysis of 76 randomized experiments with a total sample size of over 160,000 individuals. The evidence shows that financial education programs have, on average, positive causal...

Women are less financially literate than men. It is unclear whether this gap reflects a lack of knowledge or, rather, a lack of confidence. This survey experiment shows that women tend to disproportionately respond “do not know” to questions measuring financial knowledge, but when this response...

To advance understanding of effective financial education methods, the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) conducted an experiment using Mint, a financial improvement tool offered by Intuit, whose financial products include TurboTax and QuickBooks. This study measures Mint’s...

This paper introduces a novel survey measure of attitude toward debt. Survey results with panel data on Swedish household balance sheets from registry data are matched, showing that debt attitude measure helps explain individual variation in indebtedness as well as debt build-up and spending...

This paper provides a description of how having liquid savings contributes to people’s financial stability and resiliency, and the unique opportunity that tax time offers to begin saving for the short and longer term. Starting to save or continuing to save when receiving a tax refund may lead to...

A growing number of retirees are not experiencing the expected gradual reduction in spending after they retire. This report summarizes the findings of a Bureau study into whether people who retired between 1992 and 2014 had the income, savings, and/or non-housing assets to maintain the same level...

There are numerous factors that influence the decisions that people make. Behavioural insights (BI) recognizes this and, through a combination of psychology, economic and more recently other behavioural research, examines how people are often neither deliberate nor rational in their decisions in...

This research report identifies behaviourally informed ways that government, regulators, employers, and financial institutions can encourage retirement planning. Thirty different initiatives and tactics that could be implemented by a variety of stakeholders to encourage retirement planning are...

Millennials (individuals age 18–37 in 2018) are the largest, most highly educated, and most diverse generation in U.S. history This paper assesses the financial situation, money management practices, and financial literacy of millennials to understand how their financial behaviour has changed...

Achieving financial wellness takes more than just financial resources. It also requires the ability to make good financial decisions and engage in sound money- management practices. To inform policies and programs that promote financial wellness—including those sponsored by employers—the TIAA...

This report provides measures of financial inclusion including elements of financial resilience and a newly-created score on financial well-being. Twenty-six countries and economies, including 12 OECD countries, participated in this international survey of financial literacy, using the 2018...

Recent years have seen an explosion in interventions designed to improve financial outcomes of participants. Yet on-the-ground evidence suggests that not all financial education programs are equally successful at achieving this aim. This paper examines the difference between interventions that...

This report provides an overview of financial health and the policy responses around the world. Based on this, and the key questions of whether financial health measure more than income and if financial inclusion supports financial health, the report offers recommendations to policy makers on...

This report provides a view into the state of financial well-being in America. It presents results from the National Financial Well-Being Survey, conducted in late 2016. The findings include the distribution of financial well-being scores for the overall adult population and for selected...