Browsing by Author "Scott, Elaine D."

Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
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    Cutting Costs
    Leech, Irene E.; Scott, Elaine D. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2009-05-01)
    If a family wishes to cut expenses, there are usually many ways in which to do this. Most of the following suggestions will not save a huge amount of money by themselves. But, if you begin practicing several of them, you should be able to experience a significant reduction in day-to-day living expenses.
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    Financial management practices of married single earner and dual earner families in Delaware
    Van Name, Judith A. (Virginia Tech, 1991)
    The major purpose of this study was to investigate how single earner and dual earner families in Delaware manage their family finances and what factors influence satisfaction with their financial management. This study was also designed to assess the impact of perceptions of income adequacy on satisfaction with financial management practices. The subsamples of married single earner and dual earner families were obtained from the larger study on Interactive Planning for Family Futures. This project was partially funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging and the University of Delaware. The survey was conducted in 1988 by telephone interview in the state of Delaware. Subsamples of 121 dual earner families and 69 single earner families were drawn from a random statewide sample of 306 families in Delaware. The subsamples were limited to married couples where one or both spouses were gainfully employed either full-time or part-time. Analysis of data included use of frequencies, t-tests, chi square, two-way and three-way analyses of variance. Demographically the subsamples were predominantly white, and 70% of the respondents were female. Dual earner families had more education, higher occupational status and higher average incomes than single earner families. The average income range for the study was $30,000-39,999 for single earner families and $40,000-49,999 for dual earner families. Results of the study indicated that dual earner families were more interested in planning for the future than single earner families, and respondents in dual earner families were especially interested in retirement planning. Goal setting was a common practice among both single and dual earner families. A similar proportion (16%) of one and two earner families were concerned about how they would handle a $1,000 crisis. Differences were found in credit use and savings and investment practices of one and two earner families. Dual earner families are more likely to share money management decisions than single earner families. A satisfaction index was created by summing satisfaction scores for standard of living, amount of savings, amount of investments, ability to pay debt and achievement of goals. Respondents were more Satisfied with their standard of living and less satisfied with their savings and investments. Sociodemographic variables significantly related to satisfaction with financial management included age, spouse’s education, respondent’s occupation, and family income. Perceptions of income adequacy were significantly related to satisfaction with financial management for married single earner and dual earner families. Financial management practices significantly related to satisfaction with financial management were amount of debt, amount of savings and investments, money management activities and satisfaction with the decision making process. While it may appear from the data that dual earner families were less satisfied with their financial management, they were more interested and involved in their family’s financial well-being.
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    Food cents
    Hertzler, Ann A.; Scott, Elaine D. (Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1987-08)
    Discusses how to plan and follow a food budget.
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    Getting Out of Debt
    Leech, Irene E.; Scott, Elaine D.; Hayhoe, Celia Ray (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 2009-05-01)
    If making credit repayments has become difficult, there are steps you may take to improve the situation. This publication focuses on those steps and includes worksheets and a sample letter.
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    Household filing system : what do I keep and for how long?
    Scott, Elaine D.; Leech, Irene E.; Porter, Nancy M. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, 1991)
    Discusses which household records to keep and how to organize and file them.
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    The intention to save for retirement: the influence of attitudes and subjective norms
    Leech, Irene E. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988)
    America's population is aging. People are living longer and medical advances continue to make that true. Many citizens count on social security as a major source of retirement income. Future retirees will find that there will be fewer workers to support them and unless the nation stops borrowing from the social security fund to finance the deficit, there will be less money for retirees. All of this means that it is important for individuals to save for retirement. Martin Fishbein developed the Behavioral Intention Model to explain various behaviors. According to the model, attitude and subjective norm explain the variation in the intention to behave a certain way and there is a high correlation between intention and behavior when using this model. Indirect measures of attitude and subjective norm increase understanding of these variables. The Fishbein model and an extended version of it, to which demographic variables were added, were tested in this study. Five hundred Virginia Tech classified employees received the mail survey instrument, which was based upon Dillman's specifications, in June 1988. A 74.6% response was received. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations, t-tests, multiple regression, and path analysis. While the Fishbein model accounted for 22% of the variation in the intention to save for retirement, the extended model accounted for 40% of the variation. In addition to attitude, number of assets, having a dependent child between the ages of 5 ard 13, number of years expected to live after retirement, and age made significant contributions to the variation in the intention. It was concluded that the extended model is a better theoretical framework for explaining the intention to save for retirement. There were statistically and practically significant differences in the indirect measures of attitude and subjective norm for those who intended to save and those who did not. However it was apparent that neither group believed that saving now will assure than of financial security in retirement. Additional research is needed to further explore the variables which influence individual's intentions to save for retirement.
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    Kids, Food, and Money
    Hertzler, Ann A.; Scott, Elaine D.; Coleman, Mick (Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, Virginia Tech and Virginia State, 1987-10)
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    Kids, Food, and Television
    Hertzler, Ann A.; Coleman, Mick; Scott, Elaine D. (Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, 1993)
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    Kids, food, and television
    Hertzler, Ann A.; Coleman, Mick; Scott, Elaine D. (Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1987-11)
    Discusses the impact of television and television advertising on children and how families can teach responsible behavior by being aware of what children are watching.
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    Medicare 1990
    Leech, Irene E.; Scott, Elaine D. (Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1990)
    An overview of Medicare benefits for 1990.
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    Testing a model of financial well-being
    Porter, Nancy M. (Virginia Tech, 1990)
    This study was designed to empirically test a conceptual model and measurement of financial well-being as a function of (a) personal characteristics; (b) objective attributes, quantitative indicators of the financial domain and financial management behaviors of respondents; (c) perceived attributes, subjectively assessed life conditions and perceptions of financial situation; and (d) evaluations of financial situation using various reference points as standards of comparison. Two sub-problems were investigated in the study: (a) Which group of attributes, personal characteristics, objective attributes, perceived attributes, or evaluated attributes, significantly explains variance in perceived financial well-being?; and (b) Which individual attributes significantly explain variance in perceived financial well-being? A mail survey was conducted from October of 1989 through January of 1990 with a randomly selected sample of Virginia citizens (N = 1,500). After an initial mailing and two follow-up mailings, 529 questionnaires were returned of the 1,450 that were received by respondents, providing a 36.5% total return rate (529/1,450). Twenty-three questionnaires were blank or unusable, yielding a useable return rate of 34.9% (506/1,450). Demographic characteristics of the sample were similar to those of the population of Virginia citizens. Financial well-being, as measured by an adaptation of Cantril's (1965) 11-point self-anchoring striving scale, was the dependent variable. All of the independent variables regressed on the dependent variable produced an R 2 of .71, which was statistically significant (p < .01). Removing each group of attributes individually from the regression equation resulted in a significant (p < .01) decrease in the resulting adjusted R2s as computed by F ratios. All attribute groups were determined to be essential to the measurement of financial wellbeing. Individual variables with a significant t ratio (p < .05) were the Perceived Attribute Index, Index of Well-Being, and full-time employment status. The results of the study supported the conceptual model. Results clearly verified the measurement of financial well-being as a function of personal characteristics, objective attributes, perceived attributes, and evaluated attributes.