Financial literacy on the web

Abstract

Nearly 4,100 personal finance websites exist on the World Wide Web, according to The Nielsen Company, and they target individuals of all ages, income levels, and needs. Personal finance websites now attract one in four people who use the Internet, said comScore.com, which tracks Internet traffic, rivaling Facebook in popularity. At the forefront of this trend are websites that monitor budgets for young professionals with high disposable income, deliver coupons to the thrifty, and host calculators capable of boiling down personal financial information into a single chart or a long-term financial plan. This report imposes order on the Internet’s chaos by providing a framework to assess personal finance websites. We determine what features make them most effective in promoting financial literacy and what marketing and advertising strategies are most successful in attracting visitors. To promote financial literacy, a website must give its users useful information and the tools they need to examine their personal finances and prepare sound financial plans and also the confidence to act on those plans. First, we identify three categories – Models – of personal finance websites: Financial Data Aggregators, which use the computer’s power to compile and analyze massive amounts of data; Financial Decision Aids, which are tools that range from simple mortgage calculators to complex onlinefinancial planners; and Financial Communities where individuals meet and discuss their personal finances and provide support and advice to each other. We discuss the pros and cons of each Model. To illuminate them, we also profile marquee examples of effective and popular websites within each model. Second, this report explores Internet and mainstream media strategies employed by successful operators of personal finance websites to win a following on the Web, where the transmission of information is unstructured, random, and evolving. The report concludes with proposed guidelines for organizations launching or maintaining their own personal finance websites.