Many financial education providers still do not have a basic level of evaluation capacity and are unable to identify program outcomes and design effective evaluation instruments. It is difficult to propose a national evaluation strategy without a basic understanding of current evaluation capacity and of the critical gaps in program evaluation. In addition, there has been little discussion about the challenges facing financial professionals and educators who are on the “front lines” delivering and evaluating programs. The purpose of this survey article is to address these critical gaps in the literature and to provide an overview of the current state of financial education and program evaluation. Using qualitative and quantitative data collected from financial professionals and educators nationwide, this study provides insight into what can be done to build national evaluation capacity and conduct more effective program evaluations.

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Objectives. This study examines the contribution of general human capital, social capital, and financial management practices to the individual's relative financial well-being following bankruptcy. Methods. Multivariate logistic regression models were estimated using secondary data from the Survey of Consumer Finances 2004 and 2007. Results. Individuals who possess higher general human capital and greater access to social capital are significantly more likely to achieve net worth parity with nonfilers following bankruptcy compared to similar individuals with lower levels of general human capital and social capital. Conclusion. Human and social capital are relatively more important factors contributing to attaining net worth parity with peers following bankruptcy than financial management practices and attitudes when controlling for ownership of protected assets. Congressionally mandated financial management training and counseling would likely have substantially better outcomes on bankruptcy filers' financial well-being over the long term if additional human-capital-building-and consequently income-building-programs are integrated into the mandated financial management training.

This study uses data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine whether selfregulation, proxied by regularly dining together with family, is associated with better financial preparedness and greater wealth accumulation across time among households. Findings reveal that individuals who had sufficient self-regulation to regularly eat meals together with their family, increased wealth at a faster rate than others between 1994 and 2004. Moreover, those who exhibited self-regulation by frequently spending mealtime with their family showed greater preference for investment portfolio diversification. Consistent with other studies, results indicate that wealth accumulation increased with age, income, and educational attainment.