Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build and compare models that assess university students’ financial literacy. Financial literacy, understood as the mastery of a set of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, has assumed a fundamental role in allowing and enabling people to make responsible decisions as they strive to attain financial wellbeing. To this end, models that integrate financial knowledge, behavior and attitude are integrated. The models are subsequently estimated, and many comparative tests are performed. Design/methodology/approach – The study investigated a random sample of 534 university students attending public and private universities in southern Brazil. The choice of scale was based on consideration of the best adjustment for the Brazilian context, appropriate translation and content validation. For an analysis of the collected data, structural equation modeling was employed using two strategies. Findings – The findings indicate that, in the model estimation stage, the scales for behavior and attitude have been reduced. Among all of the models estimated, the best adjusted model indicates that financial knowledge and financial attitude have positive impacts on financial behavior. Research limitations/implications – The results are not generalizable to the wider population; to enable such generalization, different profiles should be researched using a larger sample. In practical terms, the financial behavior of Brazilian university students expresses the ability to establish long-term aims and saving aimed at future acquisitions and unexpected spending. This behavior is directly influenced by basic and advanced questions of financial knowledge and also by the importance attributed to attitude by establishing aims, control of spending and financial reserves. Originality/value – This paper describes a pioneer study with respect to modeling financial literacy in Brazil. This topic can be improved as the need for rigorous evaluation of financial literacy grows at the same speed as the creation of more complex financial products.

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Financial literacy helps individuals make more assertive and efficient decisions in the monetary context of their lives. This study has as its central axis developing a model that explains the individuals' financial literacy level through socioeconomic and demographic variables. The sample consists of 1,400 individuals living in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and data analysis was performed by using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis techniques. As an indicator of the financial literacy level, a measure with three constructs was adopted: financial attitude, financial behavior, and financial knowledge. Logit and probit models were estimated from these explanatory variables: gender, marital status, dependent family members, occupation, age, educational level, father's educational level, mother's educational level, individual income, and family income. Marginal effects (incremental propensity) were positive and statistically significant at the usual levels for these variables: gender (9.56%), educational level (2.54%), individual income (6.32%), and family income (3.73%). The marginal effects (incremental propensities) were negative and statistically significant for the dummy dependent family members (-7.51%), indicating that men who do not have dependent family members and have higher educational and both individual income and family income levels are those who are more likely to belong to the group with high financial literacy levels. Furthermore, it was found that most respondents (67.1%) were classified as having a low financial literacy level. These findings confirm the urgency and need for devising effective actions to minimize the issue of financial illiteracy. It is particularly suggested that major efforts are undertaken to achieve women having dependent family members and low educational and income levels. Such a study is justified by the need to create a model that allows identifying the Brazilians' financial literacy level from socioeconomic and demographic variables. This identification may be useful, for instance, in assisting the various economic player to design financial strategies and products suitable to the customers profile. From the government viewpoint, it may enable, for instance, identifying the most vulnerable groups and thus focus on actions to improve the financial literacy level of these specific groups.

Purpose Financial literacy has been recognized as a key competency. However, there are some gaps such as the relationship with other behavioral factors. Thus, this paper aims to develop a model that would be able to identify the integrate effect of financial literacy on the behavioral factors: materialism, compulsive buying and propensity to indebtedness. Design/methodology/approach The study investigated 2,487 individuals in Brazil. For an analysis, the authors used confirmatory factorial analysis and structural equations modeling and six research hypotheses. Findings The main findings showed that the impact of financial literacy on compulsive buying behavior was the greatest of the direct relationships proposed, as well as the total effects of financial literacy on behavioral aspects. Practical implications The outcomes of this study are important for the development of public policies and to other interested agents, as financial literacy goes beyond the fact that it impacts on the individuals’ financial health only and also helps those who suffer from other psychosocial behaviors. Originality/value This study is unique and innovative, to the extent that it measures the actual direct and indirect impact of financial literacy on other behavioral factors, which have been so far analyzed in separate. It concluded that financial literacy has much more significant impacts than other academic studies have shown, because under the academic point of view, the central focus up to now has been identifying only its impact on other behaviors.

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