George Nabeshima, Ph.D., CFP®, CLU®, ChFC®, successfully defended his dissertation during the summer. It was titled “Three Essays on Personality and Net Worth.”
The dissertation consisted of three studies exploring the relationship between personality and wealth related variables. All three utilized data from the 2010 panel of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).
The first study applied linear regression to examine the relationship between personality traits and net worth. Linear regression results identified the extroversion and conscientiousness traits as being positively associated with net worth. Furthermore, the agreeableness trait was negatively associated with net worth.
The second study used logistic regression to explore the relationship between personality preference and stock ownership. This study’s logistic regression results identified the preference for high openness and high neuroticism as significant and positively associated with stock ownership. A high agreeableness preference was significant and negatively associated with stock ownership.
The third study used mediation path analysis to examine how net worth and income impacted the association between personality and life satisfaction. Regression results from this study identified net worth as being a significant mediating variable in the association between the conscientiousness trait and life satisfaction levels. However, income, in addition to net worth, was also a significant mediating variable when the extroversion and neuroticism traits were used to represent personality trait variables. Results from the three studies identified significant associations between personality traits and components of net worth. These findings contribute to the financial planning field by providing useful information in regards to how mental preferences expressed outwardly though personality traits are related to wealth related variables and life satisfaction.
Nabeshima is a financial adviser with Prudential Insurance in Honolulu, Hawaii. His major professors were Martin Seay, Ph.D., CFP®, assistant professor, and Kristy Archuleta, Ph.D., LMFT, associate professor.
Scott Spann, Ph.D., CFP®, successfully defended his dissertation titled “Three Essays on Financial Wellness in the Workplace.”
The first study examined the relationship between comprehensive financial planning behaviors and personal financial wellness. The second study explored the association between financial wellness and the intention to engage in retirement planning activities. The final study explored financial wellness factors as predictors of perceived retirement preparedness.
Participants included employees actively engaged in a workplace financial wellness program. The results from these studies demonstrated that the sub-components of financial wellness, as conceptualized by Joo’s (2008) framework, can be used to identify employees who are more likely to plan for retirement as well as those who have a strong perception they are on track to meet retirement income goals.
The dissertation also discusses how these results can be used to design and implement financial wellness programs in the workplace.
Scott’s major professor was Sonya L. Britt, Ph.D., CFP®, associate professor and personal financial planning program director.