Top 10 Smartest States for Financial IQ

Navigating a path toward a comfortable retirement requires sound knowledge of financial basics and existing investment choices, as well as the ability to understand and cope with the ever-changing set of financial instruments.

A recently released study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington used relatively new data from the National Financial Capability Study, designed by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, to show the difference in financial literacy and financial behavior across states.

The data show that mostly the same states tend to appear at the top and bottom of financial literacy and financial behavior rankings. What does this suggest? There might be something going on at the state level whereby individual financial literacy and financial behavior are being shaped not only by individual demographic characteristics but also by the state in which people live, EBRI says.

To determine which states had the highest financial IQ, AdvisorOne added each states’ ranking in Literacy and Behavior and, like golf, the lower scores won. If a tie occurred on Overall Score, then the tiebreaker went to the state with the better ranking for Behavior, because acting is better than merely knowing what to do. Herein are the Top 10 Smartest States for Financial IQ. (Another slideshow will include the 10 Dumbest States for Financial IQ.)

10.  NEBRASKA

Overall Score:  27

Literacy:  9

Behavior:  18

9.  DELAWARE

Overall Score:  24

Literacy:  21

Behavior:  3

8.  WISCONSIN

Overall Score:  22

Literacy:  7

Behavior:  15

7.  NEW HAMPSHIRE

Overall Score:  14

Literacy:  1

Behavior:  13

6.  ALASKA
(Won tiebreaker with N.H.)

Overall Score:  14  

Literacy:  13

Behavior:  1

5.  WASHINGTON STATE

Overall Score:  13

Literacy:  5

Behavior:  8