Personal Financial Planning faculty publications and presentations (MU)
Permanent URI for this collection
[Collection created in MOspace, March 2, 2018]
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item Mental disorders associated with COVID-19 related unemployment(2021) Yao, Rui; Wu, Weipeng; Personal Financial PlanningIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on economic activities have resulted in a sharp rise of unemployment. The purpose of this research is to explore mental disorders associated with COVID-19 related unemployment using a large, nationally representative dataset, the 2020 COVID-19 Household Pulse Survey. ANOVA with post hoc tests (Tukey HSD) are utilized to reveal the mean difference of mental disorders between various employment status, as well as between reasons of unemployment. Binary logit model is used to investigate the potential effect of different reasons of unemployment on mental disorders. Individuals who were not working during the pandemic due to involuntary reasons had higher probabilities of mental disorders than those who were working and those who voluntarily separated from work. Among respondents who were not working due to COVID-19 related reasons, respondents whose employer went out of business were the most likely to experience mental disorders. Household job uncertainty in the next four weeks positively contributed to mental disorders. Government should consider measures to contain the spread of virous while keeping as many people employed as possible. Government should also consider providing adequate financial and counseling assistance to individuals who are in the greatest need for such support.Item Use of advisors and retirement plan performance(2020) Yao, Rui; Wu, Weipeng; Mendenhall, Cody; Personal Financial PlanningAs DC plans become more popular than DB plans, American workers are increasingly responsible for their retirement savings. Because retirement plan participants' portfolio allocation is constrained by the available funds in the plan, the construction of a plan's investment menu has become extremely important. No research has evaluated fund selection in retirement plans or compared plans involving an advisor with self-directed plans. To fill this research gap, this study employs cross-sectional, nationwide data that include 5,570 retirement plans with 100 or more participants in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Results show that in most cases, using advisors is not related to plan performance. Plan sponsors should require advisors to periodically evaluate the performance of plans under their management using objective measures.Item Millennials' retirement saving behavior : account ownership and balance(2017) Yao, Rui; Cheng, Guopeng; Personal Financial PlanningMillennials is the largest population in the United States. Compared with their parents and grandparents, they have to shoulder more responsibilities to prepare financially for retirement. It is critical for Millennials to begin saving and investing for their retirements early in their careers. Few studies analyzed this generation’s retirement saving behavior. Using data from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances, this study is among the first ones to examine the state of Millennials’ retirement savings, including retirement account ownership and balance. Results show that only 37.2% of Millennials had any kind of account earmarked for retirement; and among those with a retirement account, the average accumulated amount was $21,333. Factors that affected retirement saving behavior included age; education; total household income and assets; job tenure; self-employment; having a retirement saving motive; having a defined benefit plan; overspending; and risk tolerance. This study provided initial insights that can help financial planners and educators, as well as policymakers understand Millennials’ current retirement savings behavior and help them achieve a financially comfortable retirement.Item Credit card usage among college students in China(2018) Yao, Rui; Meng, Xiangyi; Personal Financial PlanningCredit cards have become a common method of payment for college students in China. It is important that they form good credit card usage behaviors and build a good credit history early in their financial life. Using data collected from 10 universities in China, results of this study found that being financially dependent on their parents is negatively associated with Chinese college students’ ability to pay their credit card bills. The study also found that students with a high level of financial knowledge were less likely to take cash advances on their credit card. Implications for financial educators and parents as well as policymakers were provided.Item Use of financial planners and portfolio performance(2016) Lei, Shan; Yao, Rui; Personal Financial PlanningUsing modern information economics as the conceptual framework and data from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances, this study adopts a decomposition technique to explore the relationship between the primary information source used by U.S. investors and their household investment portfolio performance. The sample includes households with investable assets and those whose primary information source is financial planner or self-directed sources. Households that received large amounts of inheritance or gifts within the past year are excluded from this study due to the necessity of additional planning and the associated time commitment to accomplish it. The findings reveal that investors who consult with financial planners have a higher probability of achieving better household investment portfolio performance than self-directed investors. Results also show that household income and investor's gender mediated the effect of information source on investment portfolio performance. This study is one of the first to provide empirical evidence of a positive relationship between the service that U.S. financial planners provide and their clients' financial outcome.