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Since 1990, financial counseling, literacy, and capability services have emerged in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States (CANZUS nations) as practice-based approaches to support the economic participation and financial resilience of Indigenous peoples. This systematic scoping review of the published and grey literature explored how these programs have evolved and whether such approaches are effective. The review found an emerging movement toward Indigenous-specific practice, reflecting the growth of Indigenous voices in financial counseling practice and highlighting the critical case for embedding Indigenous knowledge and practices into program design and delivery. However, there was little evidence in this emerging field regarding the quality or impact of program delivery. A theoretical framework is needed to guide further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand individuals’ financial behaviors, it is important to understand the financial knowledge gap – the distance between one’s objective and subjective financial knowledge. Overestimating one’s financial knowledge can lead to risky financial behaviors. To date, limited empirical work has examined how financial knowledge gap varies across age groups. We analyze the size and nature of the financial knowledge gap and its variation across age groups. Using nationally representative data, we find robust evidence that older adults overestimate their financial knowledge. Social workers can assess the financial knowledge gap and educate their clients to protect from financial fraud, exploitation, and abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Policymakers in many countries have taken an interest in population-level financial capability. Limited empirical work has examined how constructs that makeup financial capability relate and how they function for individuals with low incomes. Using a national sample of low-income Canadians, we investigate relationships between financial knowledge, financial self-efficacy, and savings outcomes. Overall, we find that financial self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between objective financial knowledge and postsecondary-education saving. The association between objective financial knowledge and retirement saving and emergency saving passed through financial self-efficacy. Efforts to promote financial capability need to focus on more than objective financial knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]