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Previous investigations and literature reviews underscore three important research directions needed to advance knowledge in the field of personal finance. First, studies on financial behavior should use an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach (e.g., Hershey et al., 2010). Second, research is needed on mechanisms that link demographic variables to financial behaviors (Gudmunson & Danes, 2011). Third, these investigations conclude that future studies of personal finance should use a life course approach because financial behaviors develop and change during the person’s entire lifespan (e.g., Hershey & Henkens, 2014; Prakitsuwan et al., 2022).
In spite of these views and suggestions for future research on personal finance, relatively little progress has been made in advancing research along these conceptual directions. Models of financial behavior have common themes that highlight the assumptions of a recently developed multidisciplinary approach to research, known as “life course paradigm” (LCP; Moschis, 2019). For example, Hershey and Henkens (2014) recognize the LCP as an appropriate and promising framework for studying the changes that take place as a result of the retirement transition, including changes in financial resources that could affect a person’s well-being. Similarly, Gudmunson and Danes (2011) propose a conceptual model of financial socialization that is embedded in the LCP. These investigators emphasize the processes that link sociodemographic characteristics to financial outcomes and events that change family contexts and processes over a person’s life, and they consider financial socialization as a lifelong process, “especially in times of change” (Gudmunson & Danes, 2011, p. 645), with changing sociodemographic contexts in the form of life events throughout the life course intimately linked to financial matters. They conclude that “although research on children’s socialization is concentrated on children’s socialization, financial socialization occurs throughout life” (emphasis theirs; p. 662) because socialization evolves from changing adult roles and resource levels. With respect to the role and influence of family, these authors note that “the continued effects of family socialization occur over the life course” (p. 663). More recent research also suggests that financial socialization is a lifelong process, with different socialization agents likely affecting adults at different stages in life (Gibson et al., 2022; Kim et al., 2022; LeBaron-Black et al., 2023; Prakitsuwan et al., 2022).
However, studies of financial socialization continue to focus almost exclusively on young...