Households' reported willingness to take financial risk is compared to the riskiness of their portfolios, measured as risky assets to wealth. Overall, their portfolio allocations are reliable indicators of attitudes toward risk, demonstrating an understanding of their relative level of risk taking. Multivariate regression analysis using multiply imputed data from the 1989 Survey of Consumer Finances indicates that households generally exhibit decreasing relative risk aversion. Further, investment in risky assets is significantly related to socioeconomic factors, attitude toward risk taking, desire to leave an estate, and expectations about the adequacy of Social Security and pension income.

In this study we examine dividends and chief executive officer (CEO) stock ownership as interrelated mechanisms that may be used to reduce agency costs. We find a significant nonmonotonic relation between dividend yield and CEO stock ownership. Our evidence shows that until the CEO becomes entrenched, increased executive stock ownership reduces agency costs and decreases dividend yield. Beyond that point, increased stock ownership increases dividend yield. Whether additional stock ownership can reduce agency costs depends upon the CEO's degree of control in the firm.

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Excessive household debt contributed to the worst recession in decades. Insights about borrowing and spending behavior can inform economic recovery forecasts, policy decisions, and financial education. This study identifies life cycle and credit attitude as key determinants of who uses debt. Younger households are more likely to borrow for consumption, as are those who believe that it is all right to borrow to purchase luxury goods or cover living expenses. Furthermore, households that condone borrowing for these purposes have a higher consumer debt burden. Debt capacity (or creditworthiness) and financial discipline are also significant factors in determining household debt use

Using the 2007–2009 Survey of Consumer Finances panel data, this study examined changes in perceived and realized risk tolerance after the financial crisis. Households who perceived less risk tolerance were more likely to have reduced their portfolio risk and vice versa. Furthermore, households whose wealth decreased were more likely to perceive less risk tolerance and vice versa. Regression analysis revealed that change in risk tolerance as measured by the change in financial portfolio risk is related to perceived risk tolerance, education, life cycle stage, and employment status. Single households, or those households whose head is less educated, or self-employed or unemployed, may need financial advice to prevent them from reducing their portfolio risk in reaction to a financial crisis.