THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS ON PERSONAL FINANCE

A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL

Abstract

Personal finance has been explored considerably in the literature, nonetheless, it has been poorly explored through cross-cultural studies that compare developed and developing countries. The main objective was to statistically test the influence of individuals’ sociodemographic characteristics on their personal finance in the United States and Brazil. Data from 2,223 American respondents and from 1,486 Brazilian respondents were analyzed with respect to sociodemographic characteristics and their impact on personal-finance-related variables. Correlation tests and multiple linear regressions were performed in order to deeply investigate these relationships. Among other findings, in Brazil, education level proved to be a predictor of how much individuals value teaching children how to save money and goods, which points out that education is able to lead population to be more conscious about personal finance. In addition, both in Brazil and in the United States, education level proved to be a predictor of the frequency individuals and their families run out of food or cash income, which points out that higher education levels are able to reduce social vulnerable situations. Age, sex, income level, and number of children also proved to be good predictors of other personal-finance-related variables.