Financial literacy is assessed with 23 questions designed to measure knowledge of financial information and concepts, and numeracy. Many of the questions are adapted for use in older persons (by simplifying some wording) from the Health and Retirement Survey. Questions assess knowledge of financial terms, institutions, and stocks and bonds. Questions dealing with numeracy assess the ability to perform simple monetary calculations such as sales and interest rates.

All answer choices are multiple choice or true/false with only one correct answer. Thus, each item is scored as correct or incorrect. The financial literacy score is expressed as the percentage correct out of total items.

Participants are asked the following questions (correct answers are indicated in bold):

1. A mutual fund is an investment that holds what? Only stocks; Only bonds; Stocks AND bonds
2. When interest rates go up, what do bond prices do? Go down; Go up; Stay the same
3. Buying a single company stock usually provides a better return than a stock mutual fund. True; False
4. An older person with $100,000 to invest should hold riskier financial investments than a younger person with $100,000 to invest. True; False
5. Using money in a bank account to pay off credit card debt is usually wise. True; False
6. To make money in the stock market, you have to buy and sell stocks often. True; False
7. What do the initials FDIC stand for? [Mentions federal]
8. What do the initials FDIC stand for? [Mentions deposit]
9. What do the initials FDIC stand for? [Mentions insurance]
10. What do the initials FDIC stand for? [Mentions corporations]
11. What does the FDIC do? Approves new drugs for clinical use; Protects the funds people or depositors place in banks and savings institutions; Underwrites mortgages and other loans
12. Stocks and mutual funds generally produce higher average returns above inflation compared to fixed-income investments such as bonds. True; False
13. Which of these percentages represents the biggest risk of getting a disease? 1%; 10%; 5%
14. A store is offering 15% off a television that is normally priced at $1000. How much money would you save on the TV during this sale? $15; $150; $1500
15. If a television set is on sale for $899, which is $200 off its normal price, what is the normal price? $699; $1099; $1299
16. If 5 people all have the winning numbers in the lottery and the prize is $2 million, how much will each of them win? $200,000; $400,000; $600,000
17. If the chance of getting a disease is 10 percent, how many people out of 1,000 would be expected to get the disease? 100; 10; 90; 900
18. Suppose you had $100 in a savings account and the interest rate was 2% per year. After 5 years, how much do you think you would have in the account if you left the money to grow? More than $102; Exactly $102; Less than$102
19. Imagine that the interest rate on your savings account is 1% per year and the inflation is 2% per year. After 1 year, will you be able to buy ______ with the money in your account. More than today; Exactly the same as today; Less than today
20. Again, suppose you had $100 in a savings account and the interest rate was 2% per year. After 5 years, how much do you think you would have in the account if you left the money to grow? More than $110; Exactly $110; Less than $110
21. Imagine you receive a gift of $10,000. If you were to invest the money on your own for the next 5 years, what % on average do you think you could earn per year? [Percentage - 10% or less]
22. Again, imagine you receive a gift of $10,000. If you were to invest the money in a government bond, what % on average do you think you could earn per year? [Percentage - 6% or less]
23. Again, imagine you receive a gift of $10,000. If you were to invest the money in a mutual fund, what % on average do you think you would earn per year? [Percentage - 10% or less]