September 2023 Just So You Know…
Congratulations…
Dr. Joan Koonce has announced her retirement and will be retiring at the end of this semester after a tremendous and amazingly successful and trailblazing 35 years of service for the Department of Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics and the College of Family and Consumer Science and the University of Georgie Co-operative extension.
Dr. Kimberly Watkins for being invited to serve on the editorial boards of the Financial Planning Review, Financial Services Review, and the Journal of Family and Economic Issues.
Drs. Lance Palmer and Joan Koonce, Wil Golden, and the UGA Coop Extension team working on VITA for receiving the 2023 SPEC Partnership Certificate of Recognition as the “Champion of Training” by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Other news…
Dr. Kimberly Watkins and the UGA Financial Planning Academy program were featured in an article by our college. Cal Powell wrote an excellent article on this entitled “Money Matters: Financial Planning Academy Teaches Campers Life Skills”.
Several of our current and former graduate students Ben Hampton, Yu (Yulia) Zhang, Kiana Drummond, Jennifer Short, Levi Sheffield, Jonah Duyvelaar, Grayson Gorman, and Naomi Hill served as excellent mentors for the participants under Dr. Watkins’ leadership. Some of the important achievements of this event were:
FHCE faculty mentees Drs. Daehwan Ahn, Travis Mountain, and Jim Pasztor attended the FACS Mentorship kick-off meeting held on Sep 6th, 2023.
Research
Choung, Y., Chatterjee, S., & Pak, T.Y. (2023). Digital financial literacy and financial well-being. Finance Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2023.104438
Digital financial literacy is an emerging concept that emphasizes necessary knowledge and skills to carry out financial transactions on digital platforms. In this study, we aim to examine the link between digital financial literacy and financial well-being among Korean adults. Using online survey data, this study shows that digital financial literacy is associated with financial well-being, and this association is largely due to financial knowledge and the ability to protect against digital fraud. Digital financial literacy carried larger marginal effects on financial well-being compared to financial knowledge, and demonstrated significant effects across sociodemographic groups. Implications for financial education were discussed.
Grable, J., Kwak, E. J., & Archuleta, K. (2023). Distrust of banks among the unbanked and banked. International Journal of Bank Marketing.https://www.emerald.com/insight/0265-2323.htm
The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of distrust of traditional banking institutions as a factor that can explain the choice to remain unbanked in a marketplace that is designed to be financially inclusive. Results from the analyses show that distrust of banks is multi-layered where being older, believing the country is heading in the wrong direction and being less confident in one’s ability to obtain a personal loan in the amount of $1 to $999 are important factors related to distrust of banks among the unbanked. This study shows how an ensemble machine learning technique based on a decision-tree methodology can be used to obtain unique insights into complicated data and large datasets within the bank marketing field. The paper provides a discussion about ways domains of trust and specific variables can be utilized to address the persistent problem of financial exclusion in the United States. Implications for bankers, researchers, educators and policymakers are provided.
LeBaron‐Black, A. B., Saxey, M. T., Totenhagen, C. J., Wheeler, B. E., Archuleta, K. L., Yorgason, J. B., & James, S. (2022). Financial communication as a mediator between financial values and marital outcomes. Family Relations. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12786
Although many studies have found links between finances and marital satisfaction, marital stability has been understudied. Additionally, many studies have examined the impact of couple financial behaviors on marital outcomes but have failed to account for the role of financial values in shaping those behaviors. Couple and finances theory motivated the study and guided our hypotheses. Partners who perceived similar financial values are better able to communicate with their spouse about money, which in turn predicts marital satisfaction and stability. We found both actor and partner associations and evidence of both full and partial mediation. Our results support previous research demonstrating the importance of shared financial values in understanding relationship outcomes. Additionally, financial communication is a mechanism linking these constructs. Our findings may inform interventions for increasing marital satisfaction and stability and for improving couple financial communication.
Park, H., Ahn, D., & Lee, J. (2023, April). Towards a Metaverse Workspace: Opportunities, Challenges, and Design Implications. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-20). https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581306
Both enterprises and their employees have globally experienced remote work at an unprecedented scale since the outbreak of COVID-19. As the pandemic becomes less of a threat, some companies have called their employees back to a physical office, citing issues related to working remotely, but many employees have refused to return. Thus, working in the metaverse has gained much attention as an alternative that could complement the weaknesses of completely remote work or even offline work. However, we do not know yet what benefits and drawbacks the metaverse has as a legitimate workspace, because there are few real cases of 1) working in the metaverse and 2) working remotely at such an unprecedented scale. Thus, this paper aims to identify real challenges and opportunities the metaverse workspace presents when compared to remote work by conducting semi-structured interviews and participatory workshops with various employees and company stakeholders (e.g., HR managers and CEOs) who have experienced at least two of three work types: working in a physical office, remotely, or in the metaverse. Consequently, we identified 1) advantages and disadvantages of remote work and 2) opportunities and challenges of the metaverse. We further discuss design implications that may overcome the identified challenges of working in the metaverse.
Sorgente, A., Lanz, M., Tagliabue, S., Wilmarth, M. J., Archuleta, K. L., Yorgason, J., & James, S. (2023). Yours, mine, or ours: Does bank account status in early marriage affect financial behavior and financial satisfaction? Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075231201554
The relationship between an individual’s financial behavior and financial satisfaction is well known. Less evidence is available about how these two constructs interplay within couples. This considered, the current paper aims to (a) examine whether individuals’ financial satisfaction is influenced by their own financial behavior (actor effect) and their partner’s financial behavior (partner effect); (b) examine whether these two effects vary between husbands and wives; and (c) verify how couples’ bank account status (i.e., only joint bank accounts, only separate bank accounts, both joint and separate bank accounts) moderate these effects. The current study draws 1,475 heterosexual early married couples from Couple Relationships and Transition Experiences study and modeled dyadic data through an Actor Partner Interdependence Model. Results indicate that actor’s financial behavior is associated only with one’s own financial satisfaction (actor effect) and not one’s partner’s financial satisfaction (partner effect). This holds for both wives and husbands. Furthermore, individuals who hold only joint bank account(s) are more likely to have financial behaviors similar to their partner than individuals who hold only separate bank accounts or both joint and separate accounts. Couples who hold only separate accounts are more likely to engage in less positive financial behavior than their counterparts. Implications for relationship therapists and financial professionals are discussed.
August 2023 Just So You Know…
Condolences…
Dr. Roger Swagler, former Department head of FHCE, passed away on August 8th, 2023. Dr. Swagler retired from UGA in 2005. Dr. Swagler, along with professors Drs. Anne Sweaney and Carol B. Meeks, collaborated on establishing the Housing and Demographics Research Center in 1996 and then added a Board of Advisors in 2004. He is survived by Dr. Julia Marlowe and his family. Dr. Marlowe is also a former faculty of the department. Upon retirement, Dr. Swagler continued to serve on the board of the Ark for many years and supported the work of the Athens Area Community Council. He also served on the Vestry at St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church.
Welcome…
Effie Antonoudi, Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator, FHCE.
Dr. Travis Mountain, Assistant Professor of Extension in Financial Planning.
Jim Pasztor, Lecturer in Financial Planning and Consumer Economics
Caitlin Vinson, Student Affairs and Marketing, FHCE
Congratulations…
Recent FHCE doctoral Spring/Summer graduates who successfully defended their dissertation:
Dr. Eunjin Kwak (Major professor Dr. John Grable)— Spring 2023 graduate; Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Dr. Michael Gawrys (Major Professor Dr. Kim Skobba)—Spring 2023 graduate; Visiting Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech
Dr. Malika Dakhwa (Major Professor: Dr. Patryk Babiarz)—Summer 2023 graduate
Dr. Marty Cotwright (Major Professor: Dr. Swarn Chatterjee)—Summer 2023 graduate
Dr. Pan-ju Chen (Major Professor: Dr. Dee Warmath)—Summer 2023 graduate; Assistant Professor, University of Alabama
Dr. Yu (Yulia) Zhang (Co-Major Professors: Drs. Lu Fan, Swarn Chatterjee)—Summer 2023 graduate; Assistant Professor, Kansas State University
The research team comprising of FHCE doctoral students Jose-Francisco Diaz-Valenzuela, Marlena Holman, and Yu Zhang, and FHCE faculty Dr. Kim Skobba (co-author and mentor) received the best paper award from the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal for their paper entitled Local Leaders’ perception of housing access and segregation in their communities. The authors were recognized at the 2023 AAFCS conference in Baltimore, MD.
Doctoral student Zongze (Victor) Li (Co-author Dr. Kristy Archuleta) received the 2023 ACCI Annual Conference Consumer Movement Archives Applied Consumer Economics Award for their paper entitled “Exploring Crypoto Currency Participation, Financial Knowledge, Financial Anxiety, and Financial Stress”.
Dr. Yilang Peng was co-author on a student paper award winning study entitled "The Mobilizing Power of Visual Media Across Cycles of Social Movements" (With a student coauthor, Yingdan Lu at Stanford University) at the 2023 International Communication Association Conference, Toronto, CA.
Dr. Dee Warmath has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.
Dr. Dee Warmath was also selected into the Aspire Fellows program for 2023-2024. Her signature project will be examining the role of shared decision making between healthcare providers and patients in health-related decisions.
Drs. Kristy Archuleta and Dee Warmath were appointed for two-year terms as FACS Leadership Fellows. She will continue to serve on the UGA Innovation District Leadership Team and the Communications Sub-committee of that team.
Drs. Jermaine Durham and Kim Skobba received grant funding from the Center for Land Reform Inc. d/b/a Center for Community Progress to explore heirs property on local driven community revitatlization efforts for the center for community progress.
Dr. Pamela Turner received Radon grant funding from the EPA.
Dr. Pamela Turner also received a grant from the USDA-NIFA for strengthening cooperative extension capacity for emergency response.
Drs. John Grable, Dee Warmath, and Swarn Chatterjee received grant funding from the Investor Protection Trust to examine the unintended role of “Regulation” in Reg D.
Dr. Dee Warmath was awarded a seed grant from the UGA Rural Engagement Workshop to collect preliminary data in McDuffie County for a larger RWJF grant submission 1) to understand the relationship between the identity narrative and the engagement in health-promoting behaviors and 2) to involve the emerging adult in the development of interventions that encourage greater reflection on our narrative and, ultimately, more health-promoting behaviors. She will be working with Cooperative Extension and Archway Partnership on this project.
Drs. Kimberly Watkins, Kristy Archuleta, and Swarn Chatterjee received funding from the CFP Board for the CFP Board Financial Planning Labor Study project.
Dr. Lu Fan received the SEC Faculty Travel Program grant to collaborate with faculty at the University of Alabama.
Dr. Kimberly Watkins led the week long Financial Planning Academy during July 2023. The event is funded by the Charles Schwab Foundation in collaboration with Texas Tech University. Here are some pictures of the event:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ugafacs/albums/72177720309768217
Dr. John Grable has been invited to serve as the Editor for Financial Services Review
Dr. Lu Fan was invited to serve as an Associate Editor for Financial Planning Review and was also invited to serve on the editorial board of Financial Services Review.
Doctoral student Ben Hampton has been invited to serve as a consultant for the CFP Board.
Dr. Lance Palmer was part of the leadership team that organized the 2023 VITA U Conference in Puerto Rico in collaboration with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the University of Puerto Rico this summer. This was the first gathering of academics, practitioners, students, and representatives from local and state universities that provide a platform for discussion, debate, networking and collaboration on all aspects of tax-based service-learning programs affiliated with the IRS Volunteer Income Taxpayer Assistance program.
Dr. Dee Warmath attended the Transformative Consumer Research (TCR) conference in London, England, as part of a Track 2 project examining the role of supportive accountability in women's success in health and fitness goals. This project is a partnership with faculty in the UGA School of Public Health, Suffolk University, and the University of Massachusetts as well as Jenny Newcomer, CEO/Owner of Commit30.
Dr. Andy Carswell hosted a doctoral student from the University of Liverpool as part of the on-going University of Georgia and University of Liverpool collaboration.
Dr. Yilang Peng co-organized a panel titled "Modeling Time: Computational Approaches for the Analysis of Longitudinal, Temporal, and Time-Dynamic Data (With Subhayan Mukerjee at National U of Singapore and Tian Yang at the Chinese U of Hong Kong) at the 2023 International Communications Association Conference, Toronto, CA.
Several of our graduate students actively participated in presenting research at various conferences this year:
Other news…
Dr. Kristy Archuleta was interviewed to opine on rural and farm stress, and mental health by RFD TV. Here is a link to this fantastic interview: https://www.rfdtv.com/georgia-doctor-everyone-is-experiencing-these-types-of-symptoms-from-time-to-time.
FHCE alumna Dr. Megan Ford was quoted in the Wall Street Journal article “Your Marriage Needs a CFO and a COO”. https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/money-family-finances-management-goals-dc6dcae6
Research
Fan, L., & Lei, S. (2023). Financial well-being, family financial support and depression of older adults in China. International Journal of Bank Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBM-05-2022-0214
The results from the three models showed consistent relationships: the expenditure-to-income ratio was a positive contributor, while the financial assets ratio was a negative contributor to depression of older adults in China. The robustness check using binary-coded financial ratio thresholds showed that reaching the suggested thresholds was negatively associated with depression. Perceived money management difficulty contributed positively to depression. The robustness check using the fixed effects model showed no significance of the two ratios, while perceived money management difficulty was positively associated with depression. The insignificance might be due to data limitation (limited waves or rare changes across waves).
Gonlin, Vanessa & Cobb, Camryn (2023). Who is Your Fate Linked To? Racial Discrimination predicting Linked Fate among People with Mixed-Race Ancestry, Social Identities. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2023.2249406
The way people with mixed-race ancestry identify differs largely from person to person, but we can see patterns in the way they perceive themselves in relation to monoracial groups. People who know of numerous racial groups in their ancestry may feel connected to multiple racial groups; racial discrimination may be associated with which racial groups individuals feel connected with. Using The Mixed-Race Ancestry Survey (2019), we examine the connection between people's reports of personal and group-level discrimination and their feelings of linked fate (believing what happens to a certain racial group impacts them) with various racial groups. Findings reveal that as personally experiencing racial discrimination increases, linked fate with all racial minorities increases. Thus, discrimination is strongly associated not only with linked fate with one’s own racial minority group, but also the fate of other racialized minorities in the U.S. In addition, believing a racial group is discriminated against increases linked fate with said group in almost every case – including perceiving discrimination against Whites being associated with increased linked fate with Whites. Understanding the relationships between personal and group-level racial discrimination and linked fate strengthens our ability to predict and plan for the future.
Zhang, Y., & Fan, L. (2023). An Examination of Mobile Fintech Utilization From a Stress-Coping Perspective. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning. DOI: 10.1891/JFCP-2022-0061
This study examines associations between a set of financial stress factors and three types of utilizations of mobile financial technology (fintech) from a stress-coping perspective. With data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study, the results indicated that financial stress, perceived overindebtedness, and stressful financial stressors were positively related to the usage of mobile fintech for fundamental financial task management, mobile transaction, and mobile banking. Policy makers need to be aware of the opportunities generated within the growing fintech industry and its potential role as a stress-coping resource for consumers experiencing financial stress, perceived overindebtedness, and financial stressor events. Financial practitioners, educators, and institutions can apply the findings of this study as they develop and promote financial services and products through mobile devices to create greater access for individuals to cope with financial stress and difficulties.
Congratulations…
FHCE doctoral candidates Michael Gawrys (Major Professor Dr. Kim Skobba) and Eunjin Kwak (Major professor Dr. John Grable) successfully defended their dissertation.
Dr. Kim Skobba was received the UGA Josiah Meigs Teaching Professorship and was recognized with the rest of the 2023 cohort of Meigs professors at the UGA Faculty Recognition Banquet in April, 2023. Dr. Skobba also received the 2023 UGA Service Learning Excellence Award.
Dr. Lance Palmer received the 2023 Chris Todd Outstanding Outreach Award.
Dr. Pamela Turner received the 2023 FACS Bill and June Flatt Outstanding Faculty Extension and Outreach Award.
Dr. Michael Thomas and Student Financial Planning Association (SFPA) President Milan Chokshi led the organization of the 2023 Financial Planning Celebration Event in Athens, GA on April 28th, 2023. This event had one of the highest student, alumni, and firm participation ever in the history of this event. Huge thanks to other SFPA Officers, Financial Planning Alumni Board leaders Melissa Visbal and Victoria Santini, and Drs. Kristy Archuleta and Kimberly Watkins for their contributions as well. Congratulations to the following award winners from this event:
Dr. Kimberly Watkins received funding of $5,000 from UGA for sponsorship of the film screening of $avvy.
FHCE Social Entrepreneurship for Consumer Well-being student Olivia Sawyer was recipient of one of the 2023 UGA Student Employee of the Year awards.
Doctoral students Ben Hampton and Yu (Yulia) Zhang received the 2023 UGA Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards.
Doctoral candidate Pan-ju (Cindy) Chen has accepted a tenure track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Consumer Sciences at the University of Alabama.
Doctoral Candidate Yu (Yulia) Zhang has accepted a tenure track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Personal Financial Planning at Kansas State University.
Dr. Travis Mountain will start as the FHCE Extension Faculty from Fall 2023.
Other news…
Profs. Sherle Brown, Andy Carswell, Kim Skobba, and other HMP faculty, along with alumni and students of the RPM program organized the Spring 2023 RPM Board of Advisors Meeting in Dunwoody, GA on April, 2023.
Huge thanks to Drs. Kimberly Watkins, Kristy Archuleta, along with FHCE alumna Megan Ford from the UGA ASPIRE Clinic for co-leading the creation of the inaugural Financial Literacy Week. Other FHCE faculty and students including Dr. Dee Warmath, Sherle Brown, and doctoral students Ben Hampton, Camden Cusumano, Camryn Cobb, Jordan Bell, Jia Qi, Rebekah Carnes, Yu (Yulia) Zhang, and many of our FHCE undergraduate and graduate students who contributed to the Financial Literacy on the Lawn Event and the featured screening of “$avvy” at the Tate Center and other activities throughout the Financial Literacy Week.
Doctoral students Jordan Bell and Rebekah Carnes collaborated in the UGA Zero Waste Design Sprint. Their project focused on “Tapping into the Knowledge and Skills of UGA Citizens to Transform Reuse Efforts”. Dr. Dee Warmath and doctoral student Camryn Cobb led this sprint with support from the UGA Office of Sustainability. Camryn was awarded a Sustainability Grant (mentor Dr. Dee Warmath) to operate this sprint.
Dr. Kimberly Watkins and colleagues were invited to speak at Vanderbilt University College of Medicine on the "Wealth Gap and Personal Finance Tips for Underrepresented Groups in the Medical Program". Dr. Watkins will also present a FAFSA Application Survival Kit (FAST) that she developed with FHCE alumna Dr. Portia Johnson (Auburn University) at the 2023 NEAFCS Conference.
Dr. Kimberly Watkins will also serve as a panelist for the 2023 UGA Graduate Feeder New Student Orientation
Dr. Andy Carswell participated on a panel to discuss the future of Housing along with the Executive Director of the East Athens Development Corporation, Executive Director of the Athens Area Habitat for Humanity, and the Executive Director for Athens Land Trust (https://flagpole.com/event/deliberating-the-future-of-housing/).
Dr. Yilang Peng and UGA FHCE alumna Dr. Muna Sharma’s paper entitled “
How visual aesthetics and calorie density predict food image popularity on Instagram: A computer vision analysis” was featured by UGA Today (https://news.uga.edu/dominating-over-junk-food-on-social-media/) and shared to a few other sources including The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/04/01/instagram-food-styling-research/). Also in March, Dr. Peng presented my talk about "Bridging Computer Vision and Computational Social Science" at two different seminars - one at a graduate seminar at Ohio State University ("Media, Campaigns, and Health”), and the other at a joint lab seminar between University of Utah and Cornell University.
Research
Kruger, M., Grable, J. E., Palmer, L., & Goetz, J. (2023). Factors Associated with Couples Pooling their Finances. Contemporary Family Therapy, 1-13.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-023-09666-9
The purpose of this study was to document factors associated with a couple’s decision to manage finances entirely jointly (i.e., pooled), somewhat jointly, or separately. Based on survey data from 636 married or cohabitating respondents, test results showed that married and less well-educated individuals are more likely to pool finances with their partners. Additionally, it was determined that the odds of partners pooling finances increase as the size of a household increases and when the household exhibits a positive net worth. In this study, households with two income earners were approximately 50% less likely to pool their finances compared to households with one income earner. It was further determined that those who reported agreeing on issues related to spending were more than twice as likely to pool their finances as compared to those who did not agree with their partner on issues related to spending. The findings from this study advance the marriage and family therapy literature by showing that financial integration style and financial decision-making responsibilities are separate constructs and should not be used as proxies for one another.
Watkins, K., McCoy, M., White, K., Reiter, M., & Liu, Y. (2023). Exploring the Role of Financial Socialization on Financial Planning Students’ Financial and Career Confidence: A Thematic Analysis. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-023-09892-1
In 2021, the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board expanded its Principal Knowledge Topics to include the domain Psychology of Financial Planning. This inclusion serves as an impetus for CFP Board Registered Programs to provide opportunities for students to explore their own attitudes and biases about money. However, little is written on how programs can aid students in this process of self-exploration. This paper introduces an experiential exercise to aid financial planning students in self-exploration. Using a thematic analysis, several themes emerged: (1) diversity in parental financial socialization, (2) anxiety about personal finances, and (3) use of technical knowledge to help loved ones. Additionally, women reported more traumatic money experiences, and men reported higher levels of career confidence. Implications can provide insights on how educational programs can aid financial planning students’ understanding of their own money beliefs to better serve future clients in the client psychology competency areas.
Zhang, Y., & Chatterjee, S. (2023). Financial Well-Being in the United States: The Roles of Financial Literacy and Financial Stress. Sustainability, 15(5), 4505.
This paper examines the role of financial stress in explaining the relationship between financial literacy and financial well-being among individuals in the United States. The 2018 FINRA National Financial Capability Study dataset is used for the empirical analyses of this study. The results found that financial literacy was positively associated with financial well-being. The study also found that the association between financial literacy and financial well-being was mediated by perceived financial stress experienced by individuals. Additionally, the results from the moderated mediation model showed that while financial stress mediated the association between financial literacy and financial well-being, the association between financial stress and financial well-being was moderated by financial literacy. Financial education was positively associated with financial literacy in this study. The broader implications of the main findings of this study for individuals’ sustainable financial well-being are presented for policymakers, financial educators, and financial counselors and planners.
Congratulations…
FHCE alumna Contey Smith CFP® received the 2023 Emily Quinn Pou Professional Achievement Award. Established in 1999 in honor of the fourth Dean of the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, this award is presented to graduates who have attained substantial achievements and are at midpoint of their careers.
Dr. Kristy Archuleta was named the Betsy Barnard Sages Endowed Professor in Financial Therapy and Behavioral Financial Planning. This Endowed position was made possible by the incredible generosity and support of the Sages Family.
Dr. Lance Palmer has received the 2023 Creswell Award. This award named after the First Dean of the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences recognizes a current or retired faculty or staff member who has provided leadership in motivating and guiding students.
Dr. Diann Moorman has received the 2023 Bill and June Flatt Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.
Dr. Lu Fan has received the 2023 FACS Early Career Research Award.
Dr. Dee Warmath has been selected to participate in the UGA Rural Engagement Workshop.
Dr. John Grable has accepted the invitation to serve on the Board of the Academy of Financial Services.
Professor Emerita Dr. Brenda Cude and colleagues received the 2022 Spencer L. Kimball Writing Award from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Center for Insurance Policy and Research for their published paper in the Journal of Insurance Regulation entitled:
Zhang, H., Cude, B. J., Groshong, L., & Katie Keith, J. D. (2022). The Impact of State Surprise Medical Billing Protections on Consumers with Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance. Journal of Insurance Regulation.
Dr. Joseph Goetz’s paper entitled "McCoy, M., O’Neal, C.W., Gale, J., Goetz, J., & Mancini, J.A. (2021). Financial boundary ambiguity among military spouses. Family Relations, 70(4), 1265-1279. " received the 2022 best Family Financial Wellbeing Paper Award from National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). This paper was selected from articles published across 22 different publications.
Doctoral student Camryn Cobb will be operating two design sprints in Spring 2023. One is the annual EITC design sprint in partnership with Drs. Lance Palmer and Joan Koonce. The other is a net zero energy design sprint she will operate in partnership with the Office of Experiential Learning, Entrepreneurship Program, and Office of Sustainability. She was awarded a Sustainability Grant (mentor Dr. Dee Warmath) to operate this sprint. All UGA students are encouraged to participate and can win cash awards.
Doctoral student Jordan Bell has been tapped again this year to facilitate the human-centered design curriculum for UGA's Innovate U, a project originated by President Morehead's office and operated by the Office of Business Engagement and the Fanning Institute. This program involves 25 or so Athens Clarke County (ACC) high school students in a four-week program combining leadership and human-centered design workshops that culminates in student presentations to their parents as well as officials from UGA and the ACC school system. This year, Cox Enterprises is sponsoring Innovate U.
Dr. John Grable and alumna Dr. Amy Hubble were keynote speakers in the NAPFA South Symposium in Charlotte, NC.
FHCE Master’s student Will Johnston for completing his Master’s in Community Development.
FHCE doctoral student Tracy Liu accepted a position at Morgan Stanley.
Dr. Any Carswell received his AICP Certification awarded by the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Other news…
The MSNT-Financial Planning and J.D. joint Master’s program in financial planning and UGA Law received approval effective from 2023.
Dr. Kimberly Watkins was interviewed by Investment News on strategies for attracting more diverse students into the financial planning undergraduate and graduate programs.
Dr. Lu Fan was invited by NEFE to present her research related to the relationship between state-mandated financial education and financial outcomes of young adults, including holding credit cards, having emergency savings, and saving for retirement.
Dr. Michael Thomas was quoted by Nerdwallet in their article on setting financial boundaries.
The following two papers published by FHCE faculty and graduate students got included in the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Research Database:
Liu, Y., Zhang, Y., & Chatterjee, S. (2023). Financial hardship and depression experienced by pre-retirees during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mitigating role of stimulus payments. Applied Economics Letters, 30(3), 391-396.
Warmath, D., O'Connor, G. E., Newmeyer, C., & Wong, N. (2022). Have I saved enough to social distance? The role of household financial preparedness in public health response. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 56(1), 319-338.
Effie Antonoudi hosted the 2022 UGA Regional Virtual Diversitas Event, where financial professionals engaged with our UGA financial planning students and high-school FBLA students and their advisors. Guest speakers included Dr. Kimberly Watkins, alumni Victoria Santini CFP®,Anna Schermerhorn
Dr. Kristy Archuleta (mentor) and our students Andy Li, Levi Sheffield, and Jimmy Cochran attended the NAFPA South Symposium.
Research
Grable, J. E., & Rabbani, A. (2023). The Moderating Effect of Financial Knowledge on Financial Risk Tolerance. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 16(2), 137.
The purpose of this paper is to describe a study that was designed to determine to what extent subjective and objective measures of financial knowledge moderate the relationship between an investor’s financial risk tolerance and demographic factors thought to be important descriptors of an investor’s willingness to take a financial risk. It was determined that those who identified as male, and those with more attained education and income, exhibited higher investment risk tolerance (IRT). Subjective financial knowledge (SFK) was positively associated with IRT. The relationship between gender and IRT was moderated by SFK, whereas the relationship between IRT and age was moderated by objective financial knowledge (OFK). A positive relationship between education and IRT was noted, but the relationship was moderated by OFK, whereas the association between IRT and household income was moderated by SFK. Findings from this study indicate that while SFK and OFK are positively correlated, they are not measuring the same underlying construct, and as such, each moderates IRT relationships differently.
Peng, Y., Lu, Y., & Shen, C. (2023). An Agenda for Studying Credibility Perceptions of Visual Misinformation. Political Communication. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10584609.2023.2175398
Today’s political misinformation has increasingly been created and consumed in visual formats, such as photographs, memes, and videos. Despite the ubiquity of visual media and the growing scholarly attention to misinformation, there is a relative dearth of research on visual misinformation. It remains unclear which specific visual formats (e.g., memes, visualizations) and features (e.g., color, human faces) contribute to visual misinformation's influence, either on their own or in combination with non-visual features and heuristics, and through what mechanisms. In response to these gaps, we identify a theoretical framework that explains the persuasive mechanisms and pathways of visual features in lending credibility (e.g., as arguments, heuristics, and attention determinants). We propose a list of relevant visual attributes to credibility perceptions and a research agenda that integrates methods including computational visual analysis, crowdsourced annotations, and experiments to advance our understanding of visual misinformation.
Peng. Y. (2022). The role of ideological dimensions in shaping acceptance of facial recognition technology and reactions to algorithm bias. Public Understanding of Science. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09636625221113131
Abstract. Facial recognition technology has been introduced into various aspects of social life, yet it has raised concerns over its infringement of civil liberties and biases against minorities. This study investigates how three ideological dimensions—social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and libertarianism—shape facial recognition acceptance. First, two surveys of crowdsourced workers (N = 891 and 587) demonstrated that the acceptance of facial recognition applications is positively associated with right-wing authoritarianism and negatively with libertarianism, whereas social dominance orientation shows little influence. Second, an experiment (N = 496) exposed participants to information about demographic biases in facial recognition applications. This message produced more opposition to facial recognition and this effect largely was not moderated by the three ideological dimensions. In summary, individuals’ endorsement of various ideologies predicts their acceptance of facial recognition technology, but messages about algorithm biases in facial recognition can still shape their attitudes regardless of the preexisting ideologies.
If you have any news items or current research you would like included in Just So You Know…. please email Swarn Chatterjee. Just So You Know…. is now available at https://www.fcs.uga.edu/fhce/just-so-you-know.
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January 2023 Just So You Know…
Congratulations…
FHCE doctoral student Camryn Cobb has received the UGA Campus Sustainability grant. She will use the funds to run a zero-waste design sprint in Spring 2023.
Dr. Dee Warmath has been invited to serve as the Senior Editor for the Journal of Consumer Affairs.
Prof. Sherle Brown has been invited to serve on the Georgia Apartment Association Foundation (GAAF) Board. She also received the 2022 IREM Georgia Academic Award and was honored in the awards ceremony on December 7th, 2022.
Congratulations to the graduating class of Fall 2022! This semester we had a record 18 Master’s students (5 Double Dawgs) and 3 doctoral students who graduated from FHCE. Huge thank you to Dr. Andy Carswell (Reader), Prof. Sherle Brown (Marshal), Dr. Dee Warmath and Dr. Kimberly Watkins for attending the FACS Convocation and UGA commencement ceremonies.
Other news…
Dr. Lu Fan’s article (co-authored with Dr. Soomin Ryu) entitled “The relationship between financial worries and psychological distress among U.S. adults” was featured in a Forbes news article related to a discussion on financial instability and mental health problems. And another article co-authored with Dr. Swarn Chatterjee entitled “Surviving in financial advice deserts: limited access to financial advice and retirement planning behavior” was featured in UGA TODAY and yahoo news.
Research paper by doctoral students Jia Qi and Tracy Liu (Co-authored with Dr. Swarn Chatterjee) entitled “Retirement preparedness of Generation X compared to other cohorts in the United States” was featured in UGA TODAY, in the “Consumer Behavior” section of @UGAResearch.
Drs. Kristy Archuleta and John Grable represented the department and hosted a booth at the 2022 Financial Planning Association (FPA) National Conference in Seattle, WA in December. And promoted the FHCE graduate programs.
Dr. Kimberly Watkins was invited to attend the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) Innovation and Impact Summit in Denver, CO, December, 2022.
Research
Golden, W., & Cordie, L. (2022). Digital financial literacy. Adult Literacy Education, 4(3), 20-26.
An individual with digital financial literacy has the knowledge and skills to use digital devices to make better financial decisions. The pervasiveness of financial technology (fintech) in the daily lives of adults in the United States creates digital literacy training and educational opportunities. This report from the field offers a brief literature review, a discussion on digital financial literacy, and the importance of fintech adult education. Our goal is to guide educators and others on how foundational knowledge on digital technologies in relation to financial literacy education can prepare adult learners for the use of fintech. Expanding the use of technology to financial literacy education and practices are as crucial as reading, writing, and numeracy in today’s digital economy.
Zhang, H., Cude, B. J., Groshong, L., & Keith, K. (2022). The impact of state surprise medical billing protections on consumers with employer-sponsored health insurance. Journal of Insurance Regulation. https://doi.org/10.52227/25440.2022.
This article used consumer survey data to investigate the impact of state surprise medical billing protections on consumers with employer-sponsored health insurance. State protections were categorized as comprehensive, partial, and none following the Commonwealth Fund (2019). Our results indicated that consumers with employer-sponsored health insurance who lived in states with comprehensive surprise medical billing protections were more likely to report receiving surprise medical bills than those who lived in states with no protections. We offer several explanations for this result, including that state protections do not apply to self-funded health care plans. Regarding differences across ages, we found that consumers ages 45 to 60 were more
likely to receive a surprise medical bill, which is consistent with the age distribution of those receiving the highest proportion of surgical and non-surgical procedures. With these results, our study contributes to the health insurance literature by deepening our understanding of surprise medical billing regarding both consumer knowledge and the impact of state regulation.
December 2022 Just So You Know…
Congratulations…
Kaylee Ranck (major professor Dr. Patryk Babiarz) successfully defended her dissertation.
Dr. Kimberly Watkins received the 2023 Sweaney Innovation fund for her project entitled “Learn, Do, and Serve: Incorporating Peer Financial Counseling into the Client communication and Counseling Course”.
Dr. Brenda Cude began her tenure as the Editor of the Journal of Consumer Affairs.
UGA students, alumni, and faculty won several awards in the 2022 AFCPE® Annual Meeting:
FHCE had an impressive list of alumni and companies started by them that were listed in the 2023 UGA Bulldog 100:
Abound Wealth Management, Bo Hanson BSFCS ’08 (Financial Planning), Franklin, TN – bo@aboundwealth.com
Dental Claim Support, Ryan DeLettre BSFCS ’06 (Consumer Econ), Savannah, GA – rdelettre@dentalclaimsupport.com
Fairway Insurance Group Inc., John Loftin BSFCS ’03 (Housing), Acworth, GA – jrloftin@fairwayinsgroup.com
Laura Wilfong Realtor LWW Inc., Laura Wilfong BSFCS ’93 (Consumer Econ), Athens, GA – laurawwilfong@gmail.com
Showpony, Daniel Stewart BSFCS ’05 (Housing), Augusta, GA – daniel@wierstewart.com
XY Planning Network, Alan Moore BSFCS ’09 (Financial Planning), MS ’12 (Consumer Econ and Housing), Bozeman, MT – alan@xyplanningnetwork.com
LangScapes Athens LLC, Kerrie Lang BSFCS ’07 (Consumer Econ), Winterville, GA – kerlyn24@hotmail.com
Rugged Road LLC, Spencer Sutlive BSFCS ’20 (Financial Planning), Duluth, GA – spencer@ruggedroadoutdoors.com
Scott Construction LLC, Will Scott BSFCS ’04 (Housing), Macon GA – will@scottconstructionga.com
Telecomm Innovations LLC, Emily Poole BSFCS ’00 (Consumer Journalism), Athens, GA – emily@telecominnovations.com
Dr. Brenda Cude was an invited panelist at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors Annual Conference in Santiago, Chile in November 2022. The topic was
Changing consumer preferences: What do they mean for global insurance supervision?
Recent study by Dr. Brenda Cude was listed in the top 10 for SSRN:
Logue, K. D., Schwartz, D., & Cude, B. J. (2022). The value and reality of transparent consumer insurance contracts. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4260410 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4260410