May 2019
In today’s economy, individuals—sometimes at an early age—are required to make important and complex financial decisions, many of them with long-lasting consequences. In executing these decisions, people may tap into many resources, including ones online. For those aiming to expand Millennials’ engagement with online financial education resources, it is crucial to understand why, when, and how young people seek out information on personal finance. We launched a survey to understand what motivates Millennials’ engagement and influences them to build their levels of financial knowledge. We complement our results with those of two other surveys representative of the U.S. population, the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) and the TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index (P-Fin Index). Millennials are aware of and use online financial education resources, however, those who do not engage with online resources said they do not do so because there is no immediate need, they have trouble finding helpful information, they fear the information would be too complicated, or they do not trust the information.