Financial Literacy Quiz
How Much Do You Actually Know?

The Big Three are the standard measure of financial literacy, proposed by economists Annamaria Lusardi and Olivia Mitchell in 2004 and used in national surveys worldwide including the FINRA National Financial Capability Study. They test three concepts: compound interest (a $100 balance at 2% for five years grows to more than $102), inflation (savings earning 1% while inflation runs 2% buys less next year), and risk diversification (a single company's stock is riskier than a stock mutual fund, not safer). They are deliberately short because they differentiate well: fewer than 30% of US adults answer all three correctly.

Lower than most people assume, and falling. In the 2026 TIAA Institute–GFLEC Personal Finance Index, US adults answered just 47% of 28 personal finance questions correctly — the lowest result in the index's ten-year history. The share of adults with very low financial literacy rose from 20% in 2017 to 25% in 2026. Risk comprehension is the weakest area at 36% correct. On the shorter Big Three, fewer than 30% of US adults get all three right, and among adults under 35 only about 14% do.

Getting all three knowledge questions right puts you in roughly the top 30% of US adults, and the top 14% if you are under 35. But knowledge alone is not the whole picture, which is why this quiz scores behaviour separately: a behaviour score above 10 out of 15 means you have the parts of a system — a buffer, a dated goal, a tracked net worth, a debt plan. Scoring high on knowledge and low on behaviour is extremely common and is the most fixable combination.

The research consistently finds it is, though the direction runs both ways. People who score higher on the Big Three are measurably more likely to plan for retirement, hold diversified investments and avoid high-cost borrowing. The gap compounds: the 2026 P-Fin Index found persistent differences by age and gender, with women scoring six percentage points below men overall and Gen Z answering only 38% of questions correctly. Knowledge is not sufficient on its own — it has to turn into a system — but it is where the difference starts.

Start with the three concepts this quiz tests, because almost everything else builds on them: compounding, real versus nominal returns, and diversification. Then convert knowledge into practice, since that is where the measurable difference appears — know your net worth, hold a buffer of at least three months of essential expenses, and give every goal a number and a date. Checking your position monthly rather than annually is what turns a one-off score into a trend.

No. Every answer and the entire score are computed in your browser and never sent anywhere. There is no sign-up, no email gate and no result stored on our servers. If you want your position tracked over time rather than answered once, that is what the Richify app does — with your real balances rather than a quiz answer.