Volume 13  |  2020  |  Number 2
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SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE
THE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE 
OF FINANCIAL LITERACY AND 
RISK OF THE PORTUGUESE
EULÁLIA SANTOS
Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal
FERNANDO OLIVEIRA TAVARES
Higher Institute of Business and Tourism, Portugal (ftavares@
iscet.pt)
The themes of financial literacy and financial risk have been the 
subject of systematic study in recent decades, as inescapable vari-
ables that characterize the individual‘s financial performance, 
and it also emerges as a factor for maintaining social well-being. 
The purpose of the present study is to study the level of knowl-
edge of literacy and financial risk of the Portuguese and to as-
certain whether sociodemographic and professional variables in-
terfere in the levels of literacy and financial risk knowledge. The 
methodology used is quantitative, and the measurement instru-
ment is based on a questionnaire survey that assesses the levels 
of knowledge of literacy and financial risk. The sample consists of 
830 Portuguese individuals, from different regions in mainland 
Portugal, over 18 years of age. The results show that Portuguese 
individuals have a higher level of knowledge of financial literacy 
than financial risk, the levels of knowledge of financial literacy 
are satisfactory and the levels of knowledge of financial risk are 
low. It is also noteworthy that individuals who have a educational 
background in the area of management or similar have higher 
average levels of knowledge of financial literacy. With increasing 
age and level of training there is also an increment in the levels of 
knowledge about financial literacy and on the best way to man-
age financial risk. So, there is a need for financial education ini-
tiatives that involve all the contributors to financial knowledge. 
Key words: financial literacy, financial risk, financial education, 
financial decisions, financial well-being

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INTRODUCTION
Financial literacy and financial risk have been gaining impor-
tance in people‘s daily lives. This is due to new and increasing-
ly complex financial products, to the subprime crisis in 2008, 
and, more recently, to the financial and economic impact of the 
Covid-19 pandemic. There is no manner to universally define and 
measure financial literacy, according to Ouachani, Belhassine 
and Kammoun (2020). However, financial literacy can be under-
stood as the degree of mastery of key concepts that provides 
people with capacity and trust to manage their personal financ-
es conveniently. Financial literacy is characterized as the ability 
to read, analyze, manage and communicate the financial aspects 
of everyday life of individuals who are at the level of their mate-
rial well-being. It can also be explained as the level of knowledge 
about the characteristics of markets, their instruments, their 
regulation, their institutions, and as the competence to use the 
acquired knowledge in the financial area. Several studies focus 
on the definition and the measure of this concept. Different 
items are used in the literature and are typically related to the 
study topics. The used calculation methods differ across the dif -
ferent studies.
In human perception, risk is often associated with loss. On 
the other hand, it is also associated with the number of inves-
tors concerned by the impact on the results of any future events. 
The risk is therefore subjective, and its perception is influenced 
by several factors, including cognitive, emotional, demographic 
and personality (Aren and Zengin 2016). Better financial knowl-
edge leads investors to gain greater risk tolerance, as it is indi-
cated by Bannier and Neubert (2016). These authors point out 
that this is not only because of a greater ability to analyze infor-
mation, but also because investors become more able to make 
riskier and higher-return investments.
Ayadi, Challita and Groen (2019) found empirical evi-
dence that all southern and eastern Mediterranean countries 
are falling behind EU Mediterranean countries, regarding fi-
nancial development, which is defined as the improvement 
of functions in the financial area, like pooling of savings, risk 

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diversification, and allocating and monitoring capital for pro-
ductive investments. The authors compared all African southern 
and eastern Mediterranean countries with a sample of seven EU 
Mediterranean countries, of which the most financially devel-
oped one was Spain, and the least financially developed country 
was Cyprus. For the authors, economic growth and the creation 
of jobs in that region is affected by the exclusion of financial 
services by families and micro, small and medium companies. 
This indicates the authors’ view on these two different concepts: 
economic growth and financial development. It is clear that 
there is a symbiosis between both, because economic growth 
depends heavily on financial development. According to them, 
it is necessary to invest in financial education enhanced for the 
least qualified ones, because there is a lack of financial education 
in part of the population, which stops them from understanding 
and using financial services efficiently.
In all populations it is important to characterize standards of 
literacy and financial risk and to measure its levels, in order to 
define training strategies, training areas and population groups 
with greater training needs. This characterization/measure-
ment should be carried out continuously, in order to identify 
the registered progress and to improve the implemented strate-
gies. Portugal is an adequate case study, not only because stu-
dents who are not from economic areas graduate without hav-
ing financial training, but also because the level of indebtedness 
of the Portuguese families and of the Portuguese State is high 
(Bank of Portugal 2011; 2016).
This article aims to study the level of knowledge of financial 
literacy and financial risk of the Portuguese and to ascertain 
whether sociodemographic and professional variables interfere 
in the levels of literacy and financial risk knowledge. To material-
ize these objectives, after this introduction, the article presents 
the literature review and in the third section the methodology. 
In the fourth section, results and their discussion are presented, 
in particular the levels of knowledge of financial literacy, finan-
cial risk and statistically significant differences. At the end, the 
conclusions are presented.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
The themes of literacy and financial risk are indispensable issues 
in the area of human development, with several studies that re-
fer to its importance.
Studies on the importance of financial literacy
Authors Mandell and Klein (2009), Grifoni and Messy (2012) and 
Ward and Lynch (2018) mention that people with more knowl-
edge and financial skills can make better decisions. Lusardi and 
Tufano (2015) and Calcagno and Monticone (2015) conclude 
that financial literacy is especially important when financial 
products are complex. Ignorance of the world of finance leads 
to wrong decisions and represents significant costs. Klapper, 
Lusardi and Panos (2013), Lusardi (2015) and Letkiewicz, Lim, 
Heckman and Montalto (2019) also understand that people 
with strong financial skills make better work planning and sav-
ings for retirement, have a lower level of indebtedness and save 
more. The authors noted that households with strong financial 
skills generally increase their savings levels at times of economic 
recession.
People with better financial literacy can more easily withstand 
economic shocks, not requiring credit, avoiding over-indebt-
edness, which allows for financial security and contributes to 
the economic development of societies (Lewis and Messy 2012; 
Sucuahi 2013; Cossa, Magdalene and Mota 2018; Siyanbola 
2018). As far as consumption is concerned, Rahmandoust et al. 
(2011) and Akhtar and Liu (2018) wrote that consumers with 
better financial literacy make better decisions for themselves 
and their families, and increase their economic security and 
welfare. Ayadi (2013) states that, besides its effect on growth, 
developing an inclusive financial system for people with differ-
ent levels of financial literacy may have a positive impact on 
equality, giving poorest individuals opportunities to save up and 
credit which is needed in their lives.
Authors Gouws and Shuttleworth (2009) and Ahmed, 
Rahmandoust and Noreen (2018) mentioned that, in the busi-
ness world, change is sudden and that information circulates at 

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the speed of light. Only with evolved financial literacy can the 
balance between the relevance of information and its ability to 
perceive and interpret it be established.
In addition to the previously presented studies, others such 
as Gorbachev and Prado (2019) and Potrich and Vieira (2018) 
conclude that more experience and more financial literacy lead 
investors to acquire greater risk tolerance. The authors‘ under-
standing is that by increasing the level of financial literacy and 
by having greater ability to analyze information, the investor 
improves the ability to make riskier and more returnable invest-
ments. Lusardi and Mitchell (2014) studied the level of educa-
tion and training of parents and their impact on their children‘s 
financial literacy. Zulaihati, Susanti and Widyastuti (2020) refer 
that financial alphabetization positively influences the financial 
behaviour of professors.
Variables studied in financial literacy
Financial literacy studies are referenced to several variables, 
such as: gender, age, level of education, region, marital status, 
professional situation, income level, training in economics/fi-
nance, financial experience and knowledge, employment and 
profession (Fonseca et al. 2012; Santos, Silva and Gonzalez 
2018; Bannier and Schwarz 2018). According to the life cycle 
theory, age is one of the most important factors, in terms of 
loan markets (Modigliani and Brumberg 1954).
Abreu and Mendes (2009), Bharucha (2019), Deenanath, 
Danes and Jang (2019) and Kuntze, Wooldridge and Whang 
(2019) studied the knowledge of financial investors and their 
levels of financial literacy, and related this correlation to the im-
pact on the likelihood of wealth accumulation and retirement 
planning. Windfried (2017) explains that Millennials from the 
European Union consider creating a personal budget to be im-
portant but require advice on financial services.
For Pacheco, Ribeiro and Tavares (2016) and Tavares, Almeida 
and Cunha (2019) the factors with impact on financial literacy 
are: (i) the financial education and training taught by the family 
during childhood and adolescence, (ii) the education and finan-
cial training taught by school during childhood and adolescence, 

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(iii) perceptions about savings, and (iv) understanding the 
price of money. However, Finke, Howe and Huston (2016) and 
Hanson and Kalthoff (2018) understand that essential notions 
about stocks, risk diversification and portfolio management 
are needed. Related to this topic Knoll and Houts (2012) and 
Lusardi and Mitchell (2014) underline the importance of being 
capable of analyzing interest rates, inflation, risk diversification 
and sales discount, while Potrich and Vieira (2018) and Salem 
(2019) highlight issues such as inflation, interest rate, value of 
money in time, risk, diversification, stock market, credit and 
government bonds and financial literacy.
The degree of financial literacy has an impact on wealth accu -
mulation and future financial life planning. There is basic knowl -
edge of financial literacy that should be taken into account. 
Aspects such as knowledge for dealing with interest rates, infla-
tion rates, risk diversification, perceptions of savings and un-
derstanding of financial markets are unavoidable variables in 
the level of financial literacy. In a study conducted by Garg and 
Singh (2018) the financial literacy of young people is studied, 
relating it to socioeconomic and demographic factors. Ranyard 
et al. (2020) refer that, in England, financial education became 
compulsory at schools in 2014, and that curricular plans include 
interest rates, credit, forms of payment, inflation, savings, and 
investments.
Shen, Lin, Tang and Hsiao (2016) report that people with 
better financial literacy tend to exhibit more positive attitudes 
in resolving financial disputes, and so they have higher levels 
of financial well-being. On this topic, the authors Taft, Hosein, 
Mehrizi and Roshan (2013) conclude that there is a positive 
correlation between age, financial literacy and financial well-
being. Moreover, the highest level of financial well-being is as-
sociated with financial literacy. A higher level of financial lit-
eracy leads to lower financial concerns and reduces the fear of 
making these decisions. This point of view is not shared with 
Stolper and Walter (2017). These authors conclude that the 
level of financial literacy is different when we compare low 
and high-income people. In the study which was conducted for 
Germany, the authors observed that young people, the elderly, 

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and low-income people have low literacy levels and as such are 
propense to make financial mistakes, and therefore, age is not 
a relevant factor.
In Bannier and Neubert‘s view (2016), financial literacy is 
relevant in the assumption of financial risks, but there are dif-
ferences between men and women. According to the authors, in 
order to reduce the gender gap in investment patterns, financial 
literacy and risk tolerance for females need to be increased.
Moreover, Aren and Zengin (2016) identified a correlation 
between financial literacy and investment preferences. They 
also concluded in their study that financial literacy was higher 
in men than in women and that single women tend to take more 
financial risks than married women. The availability to take on 
financial risks was also studied by Chu and Wang (2017). The 
authors found a strong correlation between financial literacy 
and risky behaviours in financial assets. They concluded that 
the more financial literacy there is, the less courage there is to 
take risks by households with a higher financial level, because 
they are more careful with investments. Thus, it is important to 
separate all the aforementioned variables, such as gender and 
marital status, to recognize which ones are the most relevant to 
investment patterns and risk tolerance.
Based on the defined objectives and the review of the litera-
ture carried out in the present study, the following hypotheses 
related to the knowledge of financial literacy and financial risk 
with sociodemographic and professional variables were elabo-
rated and which will be tested in the empirical part are:
•	 Hypothesis 1: There is a positive correlation between knowl-
edge of financial literacy and knowledge of financial risk.
This hypothesis has the support of the authors Gorbachev 
and Prado (2019) and Potrich and Vieira (2018).
•	 Hypothesis 2: Men have a higher level of financial literacy 
and know how to deal better with risk. 
This hypothesis is based on the authors Aren and Zengin 
(2016) and Bannier and Neubert (2016). 
•	 Hypothesis 3: Individuals who have training in the area of 
Management and alike areas have a higher level of financial 
literacy and risk management.

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Hypothesis 3 is formulated based on Lusardi and Mitchell 
(2014); Tavares et al. (2019); Garg and Singh (2018) and Chu 
and Wang (2017). Note that, by “Management and alike ar-
eas”, we mean degrees in Management, Economics, Finance, 
and Accounting. These are areas we decided to group, because 
all include Mathematical Finance, Statistics and Portfolio 
Management, which are relevant subjects for this study.
•	 Hypothesis 4: With increasing age, knowledge about finan-
cial literacy increases.
Hypothesis 4 is based on the authors Santos et al. (2018) 
and Bannier and Neubert (2016). 
•	 Hypothesis 5: With increasing the level of training, the lev-
els of knowledge of financial literacy and knowledge about 
financial risk increase.
This hypothesis has the authors Garg and Singh (2018), 
Potrich and Vieira (2018) and Salem (2019).
•	 Hypothesis 6: Individuals working on their own or others 
have better levels of financial literacy and risk management. 
Hypothesis 6 is based on the authors Bharucha (2019) 
and Kuntze et al. (2019).
•	 Hypothesis 7: A higher level of financial literacy and knowl-
edge of financial risk is associated to a higher level of income.
This hypothesis is supported by the authors such as Santos 
et al. (2018), Knoll and Houts (2012), and Salem (2019).
METHODOLOGY
Population and Sample
The target population of the present study are the Portuguese 
over 18 years of age. Portugal already held, by the Bank of 
Portugal, two surveys assessment of financial literacy. The 
first one was held in 2010 and the second one in 2015 (Bank 
of Portugal 2011; 2016). The results of the surveys, over time, 
allow us to evaluate the results of previously implemented ac-
tions and to analyze the changes in behavioral patterns in fi-
nancial decision making. In the second survey, 30 countries 
participated, and Portugal in the aggregate indicator of financial 

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behavior was in 8th place, in the aggregate indicator related to 
financial attitudes was in 5th place and in the aggregate indi-
cator of financial knowledge was in 13th place. Regarding the 
global financial literacy indicator (sum of the results of the three 
indicators described above), Portugal appears in 10th place. The 
data collection process used to survey the participants consisted 
on the application of the stratified non-probabilistic sampling 
method, in which the application of the questionnaire was na-
tional. The idea was obtaining identical groups with and without 
training in the field of Management and alike areas. Thus, the 
sample consists of quotas (more or less identical) of some char-
acteristics of the population study (gender, marital status and 
training in the area of Economics and alike) in a non-random 
manner, to ease the operation of the entire process and to re-
duce the associated costs. 
After data collection, it was verified whether the question-
naires were complete, and the existence of outliers was also 
analyzed, leaving the sample constituted by 830 individuals 
with characteristics of the study population, most of them male 
(59.3%). The age of the respondents varies between 18 and 71 
years, with a mean of 37 years (SD = 12.04). As for marital sta-
tus, we have to 50.3% of individuals are single, separated, di-
vorced or widowed and 49.6% are married or are non-married 
partners. Regarding the level of education, 1.9% have a level of 
education lower than or equal to 9th grade, 22.7% have second-
ary education, 50.0% have a Bachelor’s degree and 25.4% have 
a Master’s or a PhD. In regard to the area of school training, 
56.7% of respondents have training in the area of Management 
or similar. As for the professional situation of individuals, 12.8% 
are self-employed workers, 62.3% are workers on behalf of oth-
ers, 17.6% are students or trainees, 2.7% are unemployed and 
1.9% are retired or pensioners. On the net household‘s annual 
income, 14.5% have an annual income of less than €10,000.00; 
29.9% have a yield between €10,001.00 and €20,000.00; 20.8% 
between €20 001.00 and €30 000.00; 17.8% between €30,001.00 
and €45,000.00; 9.0% between €45,001.00 and €60,000.00 and 
8.0% have a gross annual income of more than €60,000.00. 

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Data Collection Instruments
The questionnaire survey consisted of three parts. The first 
part consisted of the sociodemographic profile of respondents 
(gender, age, marital status, level of education, training area, 
professional situation, annual illiquid income), the second 
part assessed literacy knowledge levels and the third part re-
ferred to the levels of knowledge of financial risk. To assess the 
levels of knowledge of financial literacy, according to the litera-
ture review, 11 multiple choice questions were used (Table 1), 
where each question has a single correct option that is marked 
bold.
Table 1: Questions Assessing Knowledge of Financial Literacy 
Q1- Imagine that the interest rate of your savings account is 1% per 
year and inflation of 2% per year. After 1 year, you would be able to 
buy: 
(A) more than today with the money in this account
(B) exactly the same as today with the money in this account 
(C) less than today with the money in this account
(D) I don’t know
Q2- Do you think the following statement is true or false? “Bonds are 
usually riskier than stocks”.
(A) True (B) False (C) I don’t know
Q3- Considering a long period of time (e.g. 10 or 20 years), which asset 
described below usually gives the highest return?
(A) Savings accounts (B) Stocks (C) Bonds (D) I do not know
Q4- Typically, which asset described below displays the largest fluctua-
tions over time?
(A) Savings accounts (B) Stocks (C) Bonds (D) I do not know
Q5- When an investor applies his money in different assets, the risk of 
losing money is:
(A) High (B) Low (C) It is indifferent (D) I do not know
Q6- Do you think the following statement is true or false? “If you were 
to invest €1,000 in a stock fund, you could have less than €1000 when 
you withdraw your money.”
(A) True (B) False (C) I don’t know
Q7- Do you think the following statement is true or false? “A stock fund 
combines the money of many investors to buy a variety of stocks.”
(A) True (B) False (C) I don’t know

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Q8- Do you think the following statement is true or false? “A 15-year 
mortgage typically requires higher monthly payments than a 30-year 
mortgage, but the total interest paid during the lifetime of the loan will 
be lower.”
(A) True (B) False (C) I don’t know
Q9- Suppose you had €100 in a savings account and the interest rate 
was 20% per year and you never raised money or interest payments. 
After five years, how much would you have in that account in total?
(A) More than 200 € (B) Exactly €200 (C) Less than €200 (D) Do not 
know
Q10- Which of the following statements is correct? If someone buys 
company B bonds:
(A) It owns a part of company B
(B) He lent money to company B
(C) He is responsible for the debts of company B
(D) None of the above options
(E) I don’t know
Q11- Suppose you owe €3,000 on your credit card. You make a mini-
mum payment of €30 per month. With an annual rate of 12% (or 1% 
per month), how many years would it take to eliminate your credit card 
debt if you didn’t make additional new purchases?
(A) less than 5 years (B) between 5 and 10 years (C) between 10 and 15 
years (D) never (E) I do not know
The options marked bold are the correct ones.
To evaluate the knowledge levels of financial risk, according 
to the literature review, 4 multiple choice questions were used 
(Table 2), where each question has a single correct option that 
is marked bold.

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Eulália Santos, Fernando Oliveira Tavares
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Table 2: Questions Assessing Financial Risk Knowledge
Q12- Imagine we launched a given six sides a thousand times. From 1,000 
times released, how many times do you think the given would come as an 
even number? Of the values below, what is the most likely result?
(A) 157 
(B) 298
(C) 512 
(D) 754 
(E) 919 
(F) The above answers are all equally likely
(G) I do not know
Q13- In the National Lottery, the chances of winning a prize of 10 € are 
1%. What is your guess about how many people would win a €10 prize 
if 1,000 people buy a single lottery ticket?
(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 10
(D) 100
(E) 110
(F) The above answers are also likely to
(G) I do not know
Q14- If 5 machines take 5 minutes to make 5 toys, how long would it 
take 100 machines to make 100 toys?
(A) 1 minute
(B) 5 minutes
(C) 10 minutes
(D) 100 minutes
(E) 1000 minutes
(F) 1 day
(G) None of the above options
(H) I don’t know.
Q15- In a lake, there are water lilies. Every day, the number of waterli-
ates in flower doubles. If it takes 48 days to bloom the whole lake, how 
long would it take the baby flowers to cover half the lake?
(A) 16 days
(B) 24 days
(C) 25 days
(D) 32 days
(E) 26 days
(F) 22 days
(G) 47 days
(H) I don’t know.
The options marked bold are the correct ones.
Source: Own elaboration

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Procedure
The questionnaires were applied between March and April 2019. 
These were presented to participants accompanied by a small 
introductory summary that defines the objectives of the study 
and ensures that the information provided is anonymous and 
confidential.
To process the data, IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software was 
used, and descriptive statistics techniques were used to describe 
the sample and to perform a descriptive analysis of some vari-
ables that characterize literacy knowledge financial and finan-
cial risk. The statistical inference technique was used to compare 
means between groups (Student‘s t-test to compare two paired 
samples, Student‘s t-test to compare two independent samples, 
ANOVA to compare three or more independent groups and 
whenever significant differences were found using ANOVA, the 
Tukey multiple comparison test was used) and to study the rela-
tionship between variables (Pearson or Spearman correlation). 
It is noteworthy that the statistical assumptions for the appli-
cation of the different tests were previously analyzed, which 
allowed their application with confidence (Hair et al. 2014; 
Marôco 2018; Pestana and Gageiro, 2014). 
To calculate the size of the effect of the differences in the 
groups’ averages, Cohen’s square eta was used. According to 
Pallant (2013), Cohen’s square eta values can be classified as: 
0.01 (weak), 0.06 (moderate) and 0.14 (strong). In the evaluation 
of the magnitude of correlations, Cohen criteria (Pallant 2013) 
were chosen: a low correlation when 0.10 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.29, moderate 
correlation when 0.30 ≤ |r| ≤ 0.49 and high correlation when 
|r| ≥ 0.50. 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Levels of Knowledge and Financial Literacy and Financial Risk
From the 11 questions which assessed the levels of knowledge 
of financial literacy and the 4 issues which assessed the levels 
of financial risk knowledge, 15 new binary variables were ob-
tained, which indicate if the individual got each of the questions 

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right or wrong (with each correct answer was assigned 1 point 
and in case it is incorrect was awarded 0 points). 
Table 3 shows the number of individuals who responded cor-
rectly to each of the 15 questions and their percentages. The 
questions that obtained the highest percentage of correct an-
swers are related to knowledge of financial literacy and are ques-
tion Q6 (80.2%, n = 666) and question Q1 (70.2%, n = 583). It 
should be noted that questions relating to financial risk knowl-
edge have low percentages of correct answers, with the highest 
percentage obtained in question Q13 (44.8%, n = 372), which 
shows that people have difficulty doing basic calculations with 
percentages, as is the case with 1% of 1,000. The descriptive re-
sults show that it is important to adopt strategies to improve 
the financial knowledge (literacy and risk) of the population, 
for example, making the curricular unit of financial education 
in schools compulsory, as it was already adopted in 2014 in 
England (Ranyard et al. 2020).
Table 3: Number of Correct Answers and Their Percentage per 
Question
 Questions n %
Knowledge of Financial 
Literacy
Q1 583 70.2
Q2 539 64.9
Q3 220 26.5
Q4 635 76.5
Q5 526 63.4
Q6 666 80.2
Q7 548 66.0
Q8 574 69.2
Q9 447 53.9
Q10 399 48.1
Q11 94 11.3
Knowledge of Financial Risk
Q12 261 31.4
Q13 372 44.8
Q14 267 32.2
Q15 184 22.2
Source: Own Elaboration

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To obtain the variable “knowledge of financial literacy”, the 
sum of the scores which were obtained in the 11 binary variables 
was performed, which indicated whether the individual got the 
first 11 questions right or wrong (Q1 to Q11). Thus, the variable 
knowledge of financial literacy can take values on a scale between 
0 (missed all issues) and 11 (hit all issues) points. To obtain the 
variable “level of knowledge of financial risk”, the sum of the 
scores obtained in the 4 binary variables was performed, which 
indicated whether the individual hit or missed questions Q12, 
Q13, Q14 and Q15, so that the variable knowledge of financial 
risk can take values on a scale between 0 (got all questions wrong) 
and 4 (got all questions right) points. Then, in order to make com-
parisons, among the variables knowledge of financial literacy and 
knowledge of financial risk, both variables were converted to the 
same measurement scale, a scale of 0 to 20 points was chosen. 
To classify the level of knowledge of financial literacy and 
financial risk of the 830 individuals, a tripartite division was 
considered, with their cutoff points 6.67 and 13.33, that is, an 
interpretation based on a „traffic light“, through the levels of 
knowledge, namely: low knowledge (red: values ranging from 0 
to 6.67), satisfactory knowledge (yellow: values ranging from 
6.68 to 13.33) and high knowledge (green: values ranging from 
13.34 to 20). This methodology has been used in psychosocial 
risk studies, in which in the “traffic light” interpretation, green 
identifies a favorable situation, yellow an intermediate situation 
and red a risk situation (Silva et al. 2012). Thus, table 4 shows 
that individuals have good knowledge about financial literacy, 
since 45.8% are classified as having satisfactory knowledge and 
38.8% high knowledge. Knowledge of financial risk is consid-
ered low, as most have low levels (61.8%). Given the average val-
ues obtained and table 4 data, the level of knowledge of financial 
literacy of sample individuals can be classified as satisfactory 
and the level of knowledge of financial risk can be classified as 
unsatisfactory. A strategy based on developing a financial sys-
tem for people with different levels of financial literacy can have 
a positive impact (Ayadi 2013). Therefore, people can gain abil-
ity to use financial services more efficiently, contributing to the 
development of societies and the economy.

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Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of Knowledge of Financial Literacy 
and Financial Risk
Knowledge of Financial 
Literacy 
Knowledge of Financial 
Risk
% %
Low 128 15.4 513 61.8
Satisfactory 380 45.8 153 18.4
High 322 38.8 164 19.8
Through the application of the Student’s t-test to the vari-
ables “knowledge of financial literacy” and “knowledge of finan-
cial risk”, there were statistically significant differences (t(829) 
= -23,521, p < 0.001). The magnitude of the mean differences 
has a large effect size (squared eta = 0.40) according to Pallant 
(2013). Thus, it can be inferred that Portuguese individuals have 
higher levels of knowledge of financial literacy (M = 11.46, SD 
= 4.87) than knowledge of financial risk (M = 6.53, SD = 6.31). 
Although the knowledge of financial literacy is greater than 
the knowledge of financial risk, the Portuguese government 
must implement measures to support training in schools and 
in families to improve the levels of financial literacy (Tavares 
and Almeida, 2020) and in this way, according to Bannier and 
Neubert (2016), increase the knowledge of financial risk. It is 
urgent to improve the knowledge of financial risk, taking into 
consideration the answers that the respondents gave to the sur-
vey. These included key concepts of Financial Mathematics and 
Statistics, which indicates a lack of training in these areas.
Testing Hypotheses
From the application of Pearson‘s correlation, it can be verified 
that there is a positive and statistically significant correlation 
between knowledge of literacy and financial risk (r = 0.44, p < 
0.001), and the correlation is classified as moderate according 
to Cohen‘s criteria (Pallant, 2013), which means that higher lev-
els of knowledge of financial literacy are associated with higher 
levels of financial risk knowledge, which empirically supports 

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the Hypothesis 1, corroborating, with the results of the studies 
of Gorbachev and Prado (2019) and Potrich and Vieira (2018). 
To find out if there are significant differences in knowledge 
of financial literacy and financial risk between two independent 
samples (men and women, singles/divorced/widowed/married, 
/non-married partners, people who have training in the area of 
management or similar and people who are not) Student‘s t-test 
was used. There were statistically significant differences between 
men and women in the knowledge of financial literacy (t(828) = 
9,840, p < 0.001) and in knowledge of financial risk (t(781.65) 
= 7,424, p < 0.001). The magnitude of the average differences, 
according to Pallant (2013), has a moderate effect size for the 
knowledge of financial literacy (squared eta = 0.10) and for the 
knowledge of financial risk (squared eta = 0.06). There were no 
significant differences in knowledge of financial risk ( t(828) = 
-1,097, p > 0.05) between single/divorced/widowed individuals 
and married/non-married partners, but there are statistically 
significant differences between single/divorced/widowed indi-
viduals and married/non-married partners in the knowledge of 
financial literacy (t(828) = -5,033, p < 0.001). The magnitude of 
the average differences, according to Pallant (2013), has a low 
effect size for the knowledge of financial literacy (squared eta 
= 0.03). There were also statistically significant differences in 
knowledge of financial literacy (t(700,124) = 7,452, p < 0.001) 
between those who have training in the area and those who do 
not have, and the magnitude of the mean differences presents 
a square eta of 0.06, which according to Pallant (2013) is con-
sidered a moderate effect size. There were no significant differ -
ences in knowledge of financial risk (t(828) = 0.764, p > 0.05) 
among those who have training in the area and those who do 
not have. From the application of statistical tests and by observ-
ing the descriptive measures of Table 5, it can be inferred that 
in terms of knowledge of literacy and financial risk, men are the 
ones with the highest average levels, which empirically supports 
the Hypothesis 2, corroborating the studies of Aren and Zengin 
(2016) and Bannier and Neubert (2016). In terms of knowledge 
of financial literacy, it is possible to infer that married individu-
als or non-married partners have higher average levels and it 

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Eulália Santos, Fernando Oliveira Tavares
Volume 13  |  2020  |  Number 2
can also be inferred that individuals who have training in the 
area of management or similar are those who present higher 
average levels. In regard to the knowledge of financial risk in 
the groups of variables marital status and training in the area 
of management, it can be stated, from a sample point of view, 
that individuals married or unmarried partners and those who 
have training in the management area present higher aver-
age levels, which is proven with the basic studies Lusardi and 
Mitchell (2014); Tavares et al. (2019); Garg and Singh (2018) 
and Chu and Wang (2017). Thus, the Hypothesis 3 is empirically 
sustained only for the knowledge of financial literacy.
Through the application of Pearson‘s correlation, there is a 
statistically significant and positive correlation between age and 
knowledge of financial literacy (r = 0.22, p < 0.001), which indi-
cates that when age increases, the levels of knowledge of finan-
cial literacy also increase. This correlation is of low magnitude 
(Pallant, 2013). Statistically significant differences were found 
between age and financial risk knowledge (r = 0.03, p > 0.05).
Table 5: Descriptive Measures of Knowledge of Literacy and 
Financial Risk
  Knowledge 
of Financial 
Risk
Knowledge 
of Financial 
Literacy
Sex
Male ( = 492) 7.80 6.43 12.76 4.67
Female ( = 338) 4.67 5.63 9.56 4.52
Civil State
Single/Divorced/
Widower (n = 418)
6.29 6.13 10.63 4.74
Married/Unmarried 
partners (n = 412)
6.77 6.48 12.30 4.86
Training in 
the area of 
Management
Yes ( = 471) 6.68 6.15 12.55 4.37
No ( = 359) 6.34 6.51 10.03 5.13

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Using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software became the age vari-
able into a new variable called age group with 4 age groups (from 
18 to 26 years, from 27 to 36 years of age, aged 37 to 46 years 
and over 47 years), Levene‘s test revealed the homogeneity of 
variances, which led to the application of ANOVA, with signifi-
cant differences in knowledge of financial literacy between the 
four age groups (F(3, 826) = 13,434, p < 0.001). The magnitude 
of the average differences, according to Pallant (2013), has a low 
effect size for the knowledge of financial literacy (squared eta 
= 0.05). Regarding knowledge of financial risk, no statistically 
significant differences were found between the four age groups 
(F(3, 826) = 0.079, p > 0.05).
Through the application of Tukey‘s multiple comparison test, 
there were significant differences in the knowledge of financial 
literacy between the age groups aged 18 to 26 years (M = 10.31, 
SD = 4.68) and from 37 to 46 years (M = 12.21, SD = 4.72), of the 
18 at 26 years and over 47 years (M = 12.66, SD = 5.04), from 27 
to 36 years (M = 10.38, SD = 4.68) and from 37 to 46 years (M 
= 12.21, SD = 4.72) and from 27 to 36 years and over 47 years 
old, demonstrating the formation of two groups. Thus, there is a 
group with the lowest literacy knowledge levels, whose age is be-
tween 18 and 36 years of age with an average value of less than 
10.5 and there is another group with the highest literacy knowl-
edge levels whose age group is above the 37 years with an aver-
age value above 12, which empirically holds the Hypothesis 4 
proving with the basic studies Santos et al. (2018), and Bannier 
and Neubert (2016). Age is one of the most important factors, 
in terms of loan markets (Modigliani and Brumberg 1954). Age 
is one of the most important factors in terms of loan markets 
(Modigliani and Brumberg 1954). Thus, the inclusion in curricu-
lar plans of a curricular unit of financial education in schools is 
very important, so that in the future young people will have fi-
nancial knowledge so as not to get into debt and be able to make 
savings to have a decent life when they retire.
The application of Spearman‘s correlation allows to verify 
that there is a statistically significant and positive correlation 
between the level of education and knowledge of financial liter-
acy (r = 0.28, p < 0.001) and between the level of education and 

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Eulália Santos, Fernando Oliveira Tavares
Volume 13  |  2020  |  Number 2
knowledge of financial risk (r = 0.17, p < 0.001), which means that 
with an increment on the level of training, the levels of knowl-
edge of literacy and financial risk also increase, which empirically 
holds the Hypothesis 5 proving with the basic studies of Garg 
and Singh (2018), Potrich and Vieira (2018) and Salem (2019). 
Both are classified as low magnitude correlations (Pallant 2013).
Regarding professional situation, it is intended to compare, 
in terms of knowledge of literacy and financial risk, the three 
most representative groups: self-employed (n = 106, 12.8%), 
employee-employed (n = 517, 62.3%) and student or trainee (n 
= 146, 17.6%). Levene‘s test revealed the homogeneity of vari-
ances, which led to the application of ANOVA, verifying the ex-
istence of significant differences in the knowledge of financial 
literacy between the three professional situations (F(2, 766) = 
14,039, p < 0.001). The magnitude of the average differences, ac -
cording to Pallant (2013), has a low effect size for the knowledge 
of financial literacy (squared eta = 0.04). Through the applica -
tion of Tukey‘s multiple comparison test, there were significant 
differences in knowledge of financial literacy among students or 
trainees (M = 9.69, SD = 4.60) and self-employed (M = 12.56, SD 
= 4.54) and between students or trainees and workers on behalf 
of others (M = 11.75, SD = 4.80), and workers on their own or 
on behalf of others obtaining higher average levels of knowledge 
of financial literacy when compared to the students or trainees. 
Regarding knowledge of financial risk, there were no statistically 
significant differences between the three professional situations 
(F(2, 766) = 0.804, p > 0.05). However, from the sample point 
of view, individuals working on their own or others have higher 
average levels of knowledge of financial risk, which is evidenced 
by the studies of the authors Bharucha (2019) and Kuntze et al. 
(2019). Thus, the Hypothesis 6 is empirically sustained only for 
the knowledge of financial literacy.
Through the application of Spearman‘s correlation, there 
was a statistically significant and positive correlation between 
illiquid annual income and knowledge of financial literacy (r = 
0.35, p < 0.001) and between gross annual income and knowl-
edge of financial risk (r = 0.22, p < 0.001), so it can be inferred 
that the higher the annual gross income, the higher the levels of 

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Volume 13  |  2020  |  Number 2
knowledge of literacy and financial risk, which empirically holds 
the Hypothesis 7 proving the with the basic studies of the au-
thors Santos et al. (2018); Knoll and Houts (2012) and Salem 
(2019). According to Cohen‘s criteria (Pallant 2013), the first 
correlation is classified as moderate and the second as low. 
CONCLUSIONS
Knowledge of literacy and financial risk are two important vari-
ables that characterize the financial performance of an individual. 
The level of knowledge of financial literacy of Portuguese individ -
uals can be classified as satisfactory and the level of knowledge 
of financial risk can be classified as unsatisfactory. The respond -
ents had some difficulties in simple calculations with percentages.
Based on the results obtained, it can be inferred that there 
is a positive and statistically significant correlation between 
knowledge of financial literacy and knowledge of financial risk, 
which means that higher levels of literacy knowledge are associ-
ated with higher levels of knowledge of financial risk, which can 
help individuals make better decisions. Portuguese individu-
als have a higher level of knowledge of financial literacy than 
knowledge of financial risk.
In the present study, as in other studies, some sociodemo-
graphic and professional variables interfere in financial literacy. 
When analyzing differences between men and women, in terms 
of knowledge of financial literacy and financial risk, it turns out 
that men are the ones with higher average levels. Knowledge of 
financial literacy is higher in individuals who have training in the 
area of management or similar. In terms of the variable marital 
status, individuals married or unmarried partners have average 
levels of knowledge of financial literacy. Self-employed workers 
or workers on behalf of others have a higher average level of 
knowledge of financial literacy when compared to students or 
trainees. The levels of knowledge of financial literacy increase 
with age, higher levels of training are associated with higher lev-
els of knowledge of literacy and financial risk and higher annual 
illiquid incomes are associated with higher levels of knowledge 
of literacy and financial risk. 

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Eulália Santos, Fernando Oliveira Tavares
Volume 13  |  2020  |  Number 2
The present study shows that it is necessary to intervene in 
the training of young people, that is, to reinforce financial edu-
cation in schools, in order to improve knowledge of literacy and 
financial risk. Thus, young people will be prepared to start their 
savings plans and future projections sooner and will be able to 
make better financial decisions. In order to verify the previous 
requirement, it is also necessary to invest in teacher training so 
that they can change/improve the way they transmit knowledge 
of literacy and financial risk to young people. In the future, it is 
intended to compare, for the Portuguese population, the levels 
of knowledge of financial literacy with the perception of indi-
viduals regarding their financial literacy.
There is a need for financial education initiatives that involve 
all the contributors to financial knowledge. These financial 
knowledge programmes must be implemented at schools, uni-
versities, urban and rural areas, and promoted by media cam-
paigns. Still, there should be developed e-learning platforms to 
use basic financial services. Apart from the studies conducted 
by the Bank of Portugal, this study is relevant for Portugal in 
the matters of financial literacy and financial risk of the popu-
lation. The questionnaire that was utilized allows to define the 
exact areas where people have more difficulties, which may be 
useful for policymakers, because it clarifies which topics require 
more work. It should be noted that this questionnaire survey 
has a high number of answers and that it is the first academic 
study on the topics of financial literacy and financial risk. The 
conclusions presented may help the creators of financial educa-
tion policies to adopt actions which were already implemented 
in other Euro-Mediterranean countries, where studies like ours 
have been conducted before, with similar conclusions. Besides 
that, governments must facilitate financial education to in-
crease the level of alphabetization regarding capital market. It is 
necessary to improve public consciousness on the management 
of financial resources through financial education, in order to 
better financial knowledge, and especially long-term planning, 
such as retirement planning and the behaviour of the financial 
investment. Something important that has not been explored in 
this study is the role of financial education in financial welfare. 

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