What is involved in participation?

Participation in our personal finance study involves two phases - the first phase is active now, and involves completing an initial survey, and the second phase will begin in 2009, and will involve a more detailed survey.

For the first phase, we are seeking approximately 300 households. Households need to meet specific criteria to participate because we need to achieve some careful controls within our study to obtain results that are valid and, thus, will be useful to the country.

If a household meets our criteria, we will ask them to complete the initial survey, which will concern their household finances.

What if I am unsure about providing FSU with information about my household finances?

Typically, people are concerned about discussing their household finances because finances are personal and because there is a concern about identity theft.

Let's discuss these important concerns.

First: the personal nature of household finances. Please rest assured that we are totally uninterested in judging people based on their finances. We are interested only in gathering good quality data that can be used to better understand the household practices of Americans. Furthermore, a condition for us undertaking this study, laid down by the Florida State University Human Subjects Committee, is that all information supplied to us is to be kept strictly confidential.

Second: identity theft. To alleviate concerns about identity theft, please rest assured that another condition for us undertaking this study, laid down by the Florida State University Human Subjects Committee, is that we will never ask you for any information that could expose you to identity theft.

Would I be compensated?

Yes. For completing the survey, which initial trials showed to take between 2 and 4 hours, each household will receive at least $50 in compensation.

Also, from the 300 households that return the survey, we will invite approximately 40 to participate in a more in depth survey of household financial and investing practices, for which compensation will be at least $300.

Does my household meet the criteria for participation?

As discussed above, households need to meet specific criteria to participate because we need to achieve some careful controls within our study to obtain results that are valid and, therefore, will be useful to the country. If you are able to answer yes to the following questions, you are able to participate.

• Are you part of a married couple (one male and one female)?
• Are you both between the ages of 51 and 61?
• Are you a homeowner?
• Have you not been divorced at any time?
• Have you one or more children?
• Have you been married for more than 10 years?
• Have you few current or past major medical costs?
• Of the two of you, has the higher earner been employed in a white-collar position for the majority of his or her career?
• Have you never been legally declared bankrupt?
• Are you not currently owning your own business?
• Are you not currently receiving any form of retirement income?

How do I contact you to participate?

If you meet the participation criteria (or you know a couple within a household that does) and would like to participate or simply want to make more inquiries about the research, please e-mail us at financestudy@lsi.fsu.edu or call Prof. David Eccles on 850-644-5465 (voicemail is available).

Please leave your first name and a daytime and evening telephone number. Note that information you leave will be kept secure and confidential.