Message from Faculty Director

Now, more than ever, we need people to be financially secure and resilient. Yet the rapid changes in society, the proliferation of complex financial products, and our inability to keep pace make it increasingly difficult to make savvy financial decisions.  A safe financial future should be within reach of everyone, everywhere.

That’s why, with the Initiative for Financial Decision-Making, we are spearheading an ambitious effort to equip individuals with fundamental personal financial knowledge. There is an urgent need to democratize access to financial education.

Financial literacy has been my life’s work. If there is one thing I've learned, it is the transformative way financial knowledge propels people forward.

My research shows that even basic financial knowledge equips individuals to manage their money, save for the future, and weather economic shocks. We need to ensure that more people, especially the young, acquire these essential skills.

The financial well-being of individuals and their families is what inspires and drives the Initiative for Financial Decision-Making. From crafting a best-in-class curriculum to leveraging technology to impacting policy, we are seamlessly weaving personal finance into the very fabric of society.  Our new Initiative will be transformative.

The takeaway is clear: financial education changes lives.

Welcome to IFDM.

Annamaria Lusardi
Stanford University
Faculty Director, Initiative for Financial Decision-Making
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Professor, by courtesy, of Finance, Graduate School of Business