This commentary recommends that financial counseling and planning research, education, and practice be framed as an interdisciplinary profession called personal finance. Authors summarize the history of the profession and key theories providing the conceptual foundation. In order for the emerging profession of personal finance to achieve significant visibility and gain maturity, professionals must reach consensus on defining collective scholarship. Readers are encouraged to engage in the dialogue and comment on the call to action by contacting the lead author.

While most employers remain unaware, personal financial management problems of workers cost American employers millions of dollars in lost productivity every year. One employer who was interested in studying the cost was the United States Navy. This research found that the U.S. Navy experienced $35.8 million in annual productivity losses. This translates into the loss of over 826 worker years due to letters of indebtedness, bad checks, garnishments, bankruptcies, and time spent obtaining assistance from the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. In addition, the service member’s personal financial management difficulties caused the Navy to replace 2,919 service members due to failure to re-enlist or loss of security clearance, and this cost another $65.2 million.

: This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of the Personal Financial Management Program (PFMP) which has been instituted by the Department of the Navy to provide sound financial counseling to service members. There is a great deal of evidence in the research literature to indicate that people who are well informed and in control of their personal finances are more effective in their jobs and perform them more safely. They are also more self-confident and happier in their family relationships. The Military Family Institute study team assembled for this project included members of the Marywood University faculty, consultants from other universities and research organizations, and staff experts from the Department of the Navy. The team, in the course of their research, outlined the substantial dollar and manpower costs to the Navy in processing letters of indebtedness and similar administrative actions. Additionally, the research team validated the finding that the impact of personal financial management difficulties on operational readiness is far greater than other quality-of-life issues such as housing, child care, employment opportunities, and health care. Further research is necessary to fully evaluate whether financial management difficulties are the root cause of the majority of the problems that relate directly to quality-of-life issues at large. This report supports the efforts of the Department of the Navy in providing financial management assistance to their service members, and makes a number of recommendations in furthering the goals of the Personal Financial Management Program. The findings of this study are fully applicable to the other military services, whose service members are reflective demographically of those in the United States Navy.