Microsoft Word Ed Horwitz Post Dissertation Fina docx

 Financial Beliefs 
Financial beliefs are represented in the financial literacy model (Figure 4.2) as a 
component of other influences. Financial beliefs that influence behavior are developed through 
education, personal experience, information passed down from our parents, and acquired 
information (Klontz, Britt, Mentzer, & Klontz, 2011; Hilgert, Hogarth, & Beverly, 2003). Higher 

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perceived levels of risk tolerance have been associated with stock ownership and market 
participation (van Rooij et al., 2011).  
The perceived level of debt was assessed by respondents’ agreement or disagreement 
according to a seven-point Likert-type scale where 1=strongly disagree, 4=neither agree nor 
disagree, and 7=strongly agree. Perceived level of debt had a mean score of 4.24 with a standard 
deviation of 2.17. Risk tolerance was assessed on a ten-point Likert-type scale for which 
respondents indicated their willingness to take financial investment risk where 1=not at all 
willing and 10=very willing to take risk. The mean risk tolerance score was 5.55 with a standard 
deviation of 2.46. Two questions were included for analysis and were asked as follows: 
1.  Risk Tolerance: When thinking of your financial investments, how willing are you 
to take risks?  
2.  Perceived Level of Debt: How strongly do you agree or disagree with the 
following statement? I have too much debt right now.