The TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center have released new findings showing Americans are struggling more than ever with basic personal finance knowledge.
The P-Fin 8 Index is an eight-question financial literacy measure developed jointly by the TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, known as GFLEC.
The quiz was introduced in 2026 to mark the 10th anniversary of the broader TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index, commonly called the P-Fin Index.
The full P-Fin Index uses 28 questions spanning eight areas of personal finance, including earning, saving, investing, borrowing, insuring, and comprehending risk.
The P-Fin 8 selects one question from each of those eight areas, chosen through empirical analysis to best represent the full 28-question assessment.
Americans correctly answered only 47% of the full index’s 28 questions on average, the lowest result recorded in the survey’s entire 10-year history.
The national average on the P-Fin 8 came in at 46% correct, nearly matching the full index result and confirming the shorter quiz as a reliable proxy measure.
The share of U.S. adults with very low financial literacy has grown steadily, rising from 20% in 2017 to 25% in 2026, a troubling trend that shows no sign of reversing.
Only 15% of adults answered seven or eight questions correctly on the P-Fin 8, underscoring just how rare strong financial knowledge remains across the general population.
Generational gaps are significant, with Gen Z performing the worst of any group, correctly answering only 38% of questions on average across the full index.
Gender gaps persist across nearly all functional areas of the index, with women scoring 6 percentage points lower than men overall, a divide that has proven stubbornly consistent.
Comprehending risk remains the single weakest knowledge area, with only 36% of risk-related questions answered correctly in 2026 across all age groups.
Risk comprehension is notably the one functional area where performance stays consistently low regardless of generation, showing little improvement even as adults grow older.
Financial literacy experts say the persistent weakness in risk comprehension is especially concerning given how central risk assessment is to retirement planning, investment decisions, and insurance choices.
AI tools are beginning to play a small but growing role in personal finance, with 19% of U.S. adults having used a tool such as ChatGPT or Gemini to get information on a financial topic.
Despite that growing awareness, only 4% of U.S. adults use AI regularly to help manage their finances, suggesting adoption remains far more aspirational than practical for most households.
Gen Z leads AI adoption in personal finance at 29%, while baby boomers trail significantly at just 8%, reflecting broader generational divides in technology engagement.
Researchers also found a strong correlation between financial literacy levels and AI use, meaning those who already understand personal finance best are also the most likely to use AI tools.
