ABM G12 Barcelon Senior High School Students Level of Financial Literacy

ASSESSING XAVIER UNIVERSITY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LEVEL
OF FINANCIAL LITERACY THROUGH THEIR BUDGETING, SAVING, DEBT

MANAGEMENT, AND SPENDING HABITS
A RESEARCH PAPER
Presented to the faculty of Senior High School Department
Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan
Cagayan de Oro City
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for Practical Research 2
By:
Bacas, Jagimae D.
Baclaan, Jessa Mae B.
Bayla, Edwin John O.
Guerrero, Fiona Francheska K.
Hanasan, Mary Beth O.
Lagare, Zyla Maureen P.
Tolod, Cheska Lou L.
Grade 12-Barcelon
SY 2018-2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i
APPROVAL SHEET ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii
ABSTRACT iv
CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
1.1. Background of the study 1-4
1.2. Research Gap 4-5
1.3. Hypothesis 6
1.4. Research Questions 6-7
1.5. Significance of the Study 7-8
1.6. Scope and Delimitation 8-9
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1. Theories 10-14
2.2. Concepts 14-21
2.3. Theoretical Framework 21-23
2.4. Conceptual Framework 22-24
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1.Research Design 25
3.2. Context and Participants 25-27
3.3. Instruments 27-28
3.4. Data Gathering Procedure 28-30
3.5. Data Analysis 30-34

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1. Introduction 35
4.2. Results
4.2.1. Demographic Profile 36-38
4.2.2. Student’s Level of Financial Literacy 38-40
4.2.3. Student’s Level of Financial Behavior 40-42
4.2.4. Factors that Greatly Influence the Respondent’s 43-53
Level ofFinancial Literacy
4.2.5. Significant Difference between the Students’ 53-60
Demographic Profile and their Level of Financial Literacy
4.3. Discussion of the Results 60-74
CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Conclusion 75-78
5.2.Implications 78-79
5.3.Limitations 79-80
5.4. Recommendations 80-81
REFERENCES 82-89
APPENDICES 90-108
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
Table 1: Data Interpretation Scale for Financial Literacy 36
Table 2: Data Interpretation Scale for Financial Behavior 36
Table 3: Interpretation Table of the Level of Financial Literacy 39
Table 4: F-Test Results Between Senior High School Students 54
Who Are 18 Years Old Below and 18 Years Old Above
Table 5: F-Test Results Between Male and Female Senior High 54
School Students
Table 6: F-Test Results Between ABM and Non-ABM Senior High 55
School Students
Table 7: F-Test Results Between Senior High School Students 56
Living With and Living Away from Their Parents
Table 8: T-Test Results Between Senior High School Students 57
Who Are 18 Years Old Below and 18 Years Old Above
Table 9: T-Test Results Between Male and Female Senior High 58
School Students
Table 10: T-Test Results Between ABM and Non-ABM Senior High 59
School Students
Table 11: T-Test Results Between Senior High School Students 60
Living With and Living Away from Their Parents

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
Figure 1: Proportion of the Xavier University Senior High School 36
Students’ Age
Students’ Gender
Students’ Strand
Students’ Type of Residence
Figure 5: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Level of 39
Financial Behavior
Figure 6: Proportion of the Students’ Level of Financial Literacy in 40
Terms of Their Budgeting Habits
Terms of Their Saving Habits
Terms of Their Debt Management Habits
Terms of Their Spending Habits
Figure 10: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Personal 43
Influence on Their Budgeting Habits
Figure 11: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Family 44

Figure 12: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Friends 44
Figure 13: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ School/ 45
Teacher Influence on Their Budgeting Habits
Influence on Their Saving Habits
Teacher Influence on Their Saving Habits
Influence on Their Debt Management Habits
Teacher Influence on Their Debt Management Habits
Influence on Their Spending Habits

Teacher Influence on Their Spending Habits

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
This is to certify that we assume full responsibility over the work entitled
“Assessing Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Level of Financial
Literacy through their Budgeting, Saving, Debt Management, and Spending
Habits” submitted as a requirement for graduation for Senior High School at Xavier
University Senior High School – Ateneo de Cagayan, that the work is our own, that
this is original except as specified in the acknowledgements, footnotes, or in the
references and that this has never been submitted to this or any other school for a
degree or other requirements.
BACAS, JAGIMAE D.
BACLAAN, JESSA MAE B.
BAYLA, EDWIN JOHN O.
GUERRERO, FIONA FRANCHESKA K.
HANASAN, MARY BETH O.
LAGARE, ZYLA MAUREEN P.
TOLOD, CHESKA LOU L.
FEBRUARY 2019
APPROVAL SHEET
This Research Paper entitled: “ASSESSING XAVIER UNIVERSITY
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LEVEL OF FINANCIAL LITERACY
THROUGH THEIR BUDGETING, SAVING, DEBT MANAGEMENT, AND
SPENDING HABITS” prepared and submitted by JAGIMAE D. BACAS, JESSA
MAE B. BACLAAN, EDWIN JOHN O. BAYLA, FIONA FRANCHESKA K.
GUERRERO, MARY BETH O. HANASAN, ZYLA MAUREEN P. LAGARE, AND
CHESKA LOU L. TOLOD, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation for
Senior High School has been examined and is recommended for Oral Examination.
____________________________
Research Adviser
___________________________________________________________________
PANEL OF EXAMINERS
Approved by the Committee on Oral Examination with a passing mark.
_______________________________
Chair
______________________________ ____________________________
Member Member
Approved and accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation
for Senior High School
Dr. Rogelio L.Gawahan, PhD

Principal
Xavier University Senior High School
FEBRUARY, 2019
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Sincere gratitude is hereby presented to the following people who never
ceased in helping until this paper is structured:
To Ms. Rose Ann C. Gicole, our research adviser, for her insights, patience,
support, and encouragement throughout the study. Despite her busy schedule
because of a great number of groups she needs to attend to, she still managed to
answer our queries and share her knowledge to us.
To Dr. Jovelyn G. Delosa, PhD, for wholeheartedly sharing her insights and
knowledge to the group in the process of making the research paper.
To Mrs. Janneth A. Ong, for helping us in some of the statistical computations
during the data analysis.
To our family and friends, whose support filled the researchers with enormous
motivation to fulfill whatever it takes to conclude this research study.
And above all, to the LORD ALMIGHTY, for His infinite provision of grace and
divine intervention in the completion of this study, for in Him nothing is impossible for
He is filled with love.

DEDICATION
This accomplishment is dedicated to the people whom we consider as a
blessing in making this study a successful one:
To our parents, who serve as our inspiration and have given us strength and
courage to finish the study.
To our adviser Ms. Rose Ann Gicole, for showing her utmost support to our
group and for motivating us to strive hard in order to produce a quality output.
To our classmates and friends who offer their helping hands at times when we
need them.
And most especially, to our Almighty God our savior, who is our source of
strength and courage. He’s able to shower us His wisdom and we could not have
embarked on this journey without Him.

ABSTRACT
An individual has his/her own knowledge and understanding about

managingfinancial resources. With this knowledge follows how an individual applies
it in making financial decisions, which includes handling and allocating money.These
days, it is evident that students are more into spending to something they want
rather than what they need. Perhaps, this is because of their inability to put their
knowledge into application. With this, the study focuses on assessing the financial
literacy level of the senior high school students of Xavier University in terms of their
budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending habits. This study enables
students, parents, teachers, school administration and future researchers to expound
and give importance more on financial education that will benefit the students. In line
with this, being a quantitative research with a descriptive comparative design as an
approach, survey method was used where the researchers interact with 321
respondents by collecting data throughstructured close-ended survey
questionnaires. To analyze the data gathered, the researchers used data analysis
tools such as percentage/frequency, mean, F-test and T-test. Results showed that
students were able to have amoderately high level in financial literacy and this
finding is helpful for the development of financial literacy programs for the students in
order for them to gain a better understanding of the different aspects of financial
literacy and eventually help themto improve and maintain the areas concerned.
Keywords: Financial Literacy, Financial Behavior, Financial Education, Saving, Debt

Management, Budgeting, Spending Habits
CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
This chapter starts off by presenting the background of the study which
includes the general context, description of the current state of the field, the
conventional practices in addressing the current situation and the research gap that
the study seeks to address. This is then followed by the statement of the problem,
research questions that the study aims to answer, as well as the significance of the
study and its scope and delimitation.
1.1. Background of the Study
Nowadays, trends are highly attractive to the young people most especially
the students. There are situations that students tend to spend more to something
they want rather than what they need. This results from their inability to manage their
financial resources well which ends up the students’ pocket to zero balance.
Moreover, students have the tendency to prefer things that are unnecessary. A study
conducted by the World Bank (2015) in the Philippines also showed that Filipinos
need a specific knowledge to make literate financial decisions as they could correctly
answer only three out of seven financial literacy-related questions that comprised
basic numeracy, computing compounding interest, fundamentals of inflation and
investment diversification. This implies that only few people have acquired the
appropriate level of financial literacy which largely affects their behavior in managing
their financial resources.

Financial literacy, which can be defined as an understanding of various
financial concepts, has a critical impact on students’ ability to make smart financial
choices (Coogan, 2016).The International Network on Financial Education (2011)
defined financial literacy as a combination of an individual’s knowledge, skill,
behavior, and attitude which are considered to be imperative in order to make
responsible financial decision. This then leads an individual to acquire financial well
being. According to Snelling (2014), there are seven basic financial concepts needed
to thrive financially and these are time value of money, diversification of risks and
investment, compounding effect of money, understanding the stock market,
household budget, opportunity cost, and interest rate. Having enough knowledge
about these concepts allow an individual to manage all their financial resources
responsibly.
Financial literacy affects the individual’s personal finance management
behavior (Jayantilal, 2017). This includes the budgeting, saving, debt management,
and spending of one’s financial resources. According to Kamukama (2016),
budgeting is essential in monitoring the expenses in order to align this with an
individual’s need. Financial literacy allows an individual to be knowledgeable in the
proper allocation of their financial resources in order for them to maximize their
wealth. Students deal with money in almost every day. They spend money for fare in
jeepneys and other utility vehicles upon going to school and going back home.
Students also spend money in buying foods for snacks and meals in order to satisfy
their hunger. In addition, money is also spent when they pay for classroom funds,
buying school supplies, and other school-related expenses. There are instances that
students do not take into consideration budgeting their money and just spend great
amount to anything they wish to spend their money to. This is the reason behind
students who tend to lack money which leads them to borrowing money from others.
Furthermore, it is also necessary for the students to save a portion of their money to
help when they encounter situations where their allowance is not enough to cover
the money they need. Saving is defined as something that is related to financial
literacy with regards to the probability of having an effective saving amongst
individuals (Tabiani, 2013). A person who is financially literate is more likely to save
their money for an important purpose rather than spending it on non-essential things.
Financial literacy can be also determined by the individual’s debt
management behavior. According to Bahovec, Barbic, and Palic (2015), debt
management behaviour is influenced by the level of financial literacy. Having a poor
level of financial literacy subsidizes to the increase of the condition of owing money
as they perform debt behaviour of inferior quality. This situation largely affects and
endangers the financial well-being of an individual. Lastly, spending habits also
provide an idea on what financial mechanism is used by the adults (Villanueva,
2017). There are some students who spend their money wisely where they’ll have a
thorough evaluation on service or product before making a decision. However, there
are also students who tend to spend their money when they like to or when they are
being carried away by their emotions. This mechanism is affected by their set of
knowledge and skills in terms of financial matters. Hence, financial literacy gives an
individual a set of knowledge and skill to know how to manage their money properly
(Ritchie, 2018).
To enhance financial literacy among Filipinos, the Department of Education
(DepEd) and its partners enable both teachers and students to achieve financial
well-being through conducting seminars and workshops in many areas of the
Philippines (Philippine Information Agency, 2017). In the same way, financial and
entrepreneurial concepts has also been included under the basic education system
in the curricula of elementary and secondary levels. These are incorporated in the
subjects Technology and Livelihood Education and Edukasyong Pangkabuhayan at
Pantahanan. Furthermore, BPI Foundation is launching two financial education
programs which aims to target students in elementary and senior high school who
are enrolled in both public and private schools. The first program is Manny & Me
which caters students in Grades 3 and 4. This program teaches the students the
importance of saving money in the context that is applicable to their age range. The
second program is the BPI SHAPE (Senior High School Acceleration Program for
Employment & Entrepreneurship). This program is intended to develop the values
and skills of the students especially those that are taking Technical and Vocational
Track under the K to 12 program through having values-driven skills development,
entrepreneurship, and financial management programs. The BPI SHAPE exposes
the students in various companies and organizations by letting them have some
immersions, internships, and other supplemental trainings for them to gain more
knowledge from their real-life involvements (Corcuera, 2016). Additionally, the said
program also provides training and mentoring sessions conducted by professionals
for the teachers. This allows them to increase the effectivity in educating their
students to become financially literate individuals.
Research Gap
According to Corridan (2010), individuals having enough financial knowledge
is more likely to make responsible decisions when it comes to managing their
personal finances. In this sense, they are able to avoid getting into situations where
they lack out of money to use as they deal with different situations in life that involves
finances. However, a study conducted by Hilgert and Hogarth (2003), stated that
having a higher level of financial knowledge does not mean that an individual has a
higher level of financial literacy. This means that the financial knowledge is not
enough to make a person financially literate because how the individual applies the
knowledge is what matters. The behavior of an individual towards money has a great
impact on determining how financially literate a person is. This idea has integrated
the researchers to conduct a study on the level of financial literacy among young
Filipinos specifically the senior high school students of Xavier University-Ateneo de
Cagayan through their budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending habits.
This study will identify how financially literate the students are through their practices
and behaviors in real life situations. This will serve as a basis for the institution and
other organizations on what approaches to make to effectively address the pending
problem on financial literacy.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
The significance in promoting the financial literacy among Xavier University
Senior High School students cannot be neglected as individuals’ financial aspect is
being affected by how they manage their finances. In this sense, as the students
deal with their personal finances, the researchers found out that there isno sufficient
data that states that financial knowledge of the students is applied practically in their
daily transactions. The financial behaviors of the students can be observed
mostlyuponbudgeting their allowance in their expenses as they buy their meals or
snacks, payments for their printed and photocopied requirements, fare in
transportation, any financial contributions in school, as well as saving money that will
not lead their pockets to zero balance and avoid falling into indebtedness.
Based on the worldwide financial literacy index, Philippines ranks 68th for the
year 2017. This only shows that the financial education in the Philippines is not that
effective in improving the level of financial literacy of every Filipinos (Asian
Development Bank, 2017). A study conducted by the World Bank (2015) shows that
out of seven financial literacy related questions, Filipino adults can only answer three
questions correctly. This implies that only 2% of the Filipino adults can accurately
answer all the questions given. The same study also states that practices like proper
money management in childhood affects how adults manage their money properly
today. This means that those Filipinos who started practicing in saving their money
when they were still young shows a better attitude towards savings as they grow old
compared to those people who did not develop the habit early.
There is a need to give attention to financial education since only few
individuals have acquired cognition about finances. Moreover, this study aims to
determine the level of financial literacy of Xavier University Senior High School
students through their budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending habits as
to how they handle their daily allowances.
1.3. Hypothesis
Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference in the level of financial
literacy of the students when grouped according to their age, gender, strand, and
type of residence.
Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant difference in the level of
financial literacy of the students when grouped according to their age, gender,
strand, and type of residence.
1.4. Research Questions

The purpose of this study is to assess the level of financial literacy of Senior
High School students in Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan through their
budgeting, saving, debt management and spending habits.
To achieve this, the research aims to answer the following questions:
1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, strand, and type of
residence?
2. What is the level of financial behaviour of the respondents in terms of their
budgeting, saving, debt management and spending habits?
3. What is the level of financial literacy of the senior high school students?
4. What are the factors that greatly influenced the respondent’s level of financial
literacy according to their budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending
habits?
5. Is there a significant difference in the level of financial literacy of the respondents
when grouped according to age, gender, strand, and type of residence?
1.5. Significance of the Study
Senior High School students tend to be inconsequent in making financial
decisions due to lack of knowledge in handling financial responsibilities which result
in borrowing irresponsibly. By implying financial literacy, spending habits of the
students may possibly change into more practical. With this, the researchers aim to
know the level of financial literacy of the students of Xavier University Senior High
School in their budgeting, saving, debt management and spending habits.
This research paper would be of help to the following:
STUDENTS OF XAVIER UNIVERSITY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. This research
would help students identify and understand the importance of managing their
financial resources that will serve as their guiding steps in making thorough and
effective decisions when doing financial activities. In addition, the students will be
able to know on what areas are to maintain and to work on in improving their level of
financial literacy.
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. They are the ones who are usually behind different
school events and programs. Findings of this research would then help the
administration what programs and policies to implement that would fit in addressing
the improvement of the level of financial literacy of the students.
PARENTS. The allowances that students usually have are basically from the hard
work of their parents. The results of this study will allow parents to know how
financial literate their children are and will be able to furnish themselves in order to
direct their children to become financially literate.
FUTURE RESEARCHERS. The future researchers who would like to research on
the same topic may use this paper as a reference for their own as it contains
important areas that could be of helping them.
1.6. Scope and Delimitation
The focus of this study is to assess the level of financial literacy among Senior
High School students in Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan for the school year
2018-2019. This study centralizes on how students manage their financial resources
amidst their day to day expenses. It also seeks to ascertain on how students
become responsible consumers in the market given that some of them have an easy
access to funds. The components of assessing the level of financial literacy is
through their financial behavior such as spending, budgeting, saving, and debt
management as this will help in navigating the level of financial literacy of the
students.
Likewise, this study will also identify the differences of the respondent’s
financial literacy in terms of their age, gender, strand, and the type of residence they
have as a student, either they live with their parents or in dormitories. Conducting
this study will be done within Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan since the area is
occupied with students with diverse background. As a result, this gives a factual
reflection of financial literacy of senior high school students in Xavier University. This
study comprises the senior high school population coming from four strands which
are: Accountancy Business and Management (ABM), Science Technology
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMMS),
and General Academic (GA). However, Technical Vocational Livelihood (TVL) is not
part of the study due to limitations in finding the accessibility and availability to reach
them.
Also, this study will only be covered within one academic year and conducting
this study will be done in a process of giving out situational survey questionnaires.
Questionnaires used in this study is intrinsically limited in its scope and the
information to be gathered will also be collected based on its limitation.

CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
This chapter identifies the related literature from online journals, books, and
earlier studies that are relevant to the research topic. It aims to acknowledge the
different sources of useful information that gives a clearer explanation of the
variables involved in the study for the researchers to know the amount of work being
done in the research topic. This information suggests different methodologies,
sources of data, statistical techniques, and ways that will help the researchers in
achieving the goal of their research study. These sources are selected according to
its currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose. Although the literature
covers a variety of its concepts and theories, this review will only focus on giving an
overview of financial literacy of students; the factors influencing their level of financial
literacy, its importance, and its determinants
THEORIES
Theory 1: The Economic Theory of Self-Control
The Economic Theory of Self-Control was developed by Richard Thaler in
1981, who was Awarded with a Nobel Prize in 2017 for his contribution in the field of
understanding human behavior in the science of economics. He was also given the
title of “Father of Behavioral Economics”. It is in this theory wherein it states that
people suffer from various mental illusions that cause people to make blunders and
we are tempted to dive into the pleasures of consumption here and now rather than
saving for more exciting experiences in the future. With this, Thaler devised the
“planner-doer” model where the “planner-self” thinks about long term objectives,
where as the “doing-self” cares about what is here and now.

Theory 2: Maslow's Motivation Theory
Maslow's Motivation Theory of Needs is a theory proposed by Abraham
Maslow in his paper entitled “A Theory of Human Motivation” back in 1943. This is
used to study how humans intrinsically partake in behavioral motivation. He used the
terms, “physiological”, “safety”, “belonging and love” or “social needs”, “esteem” and
lastly, “self-actualization to describe the pattern through which human motivations
generally move. Which means that in order for motivation to occur at the next level,
each level must be satisfied within the individual themselves.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS
These needs are considered the main physical requirements for human
survival. These are the universal human needs. In this theory, it was stated that
people should fulfill these needs first in order to pursue satisfaction in the next level
of needs. These physiological needs include food, water, sleep amd shelter - which
are the basic necessities.

SAFETY NEEDS
After being able to satisfy the first level of need, a person's safety needs take
precedence and dominant behavior. In this level, it is where children are more likely
to predominate as they generally have a greater need to feel safe. These levels of
needs are about keeping us safe from harm. These needs include personal security,
emotional security, financial security, health and wellbeing, and safety against
accidents/illness and their adverse impacts.
LOVE/BELONGING
The third level of human needs are seen to be interpersonal and involves the
feelings of belongingness. It is the need wherein people build and establish strong
bonds and connections with other people in terms of friendships and relationships.
This need is especially strong in childhood and it can override the need for safety as
witnessed among children who cling to abusive parents. It is actually a need for
humans to feel a sense of belongingness and acceptance from social groups as they
are of great influence of a person's growth. The needs in this level includes
friendships, intimacy, and family.
SELF-ESTEEM
Esteem needs are ego needs or status needs. It is in this level of needs
where people develop a concern with getting and developing recognition,
acknowledgement and respect from other people. It is typically the human desire to
be accepted and valued by others. With this, people engage in activities and hobbies
where they could gain recognition and self-confidence. It is in these activities that
gives people a sense of contribution or value.

SELF-ACTUALIZATION
This level of needs refers to what a person's full potential of and realization of
that potential. Maslow describes this level as the desire to accomplish everything
that one can, to become the most one can be. Self-actualization can often be
described as a value-based system when discussing its role in motivation. Since all
levels of Maslow's hierarchy must have been met in order to acquire this level,
seeking to fulfill this form of satisfaction can be defined as an explicit motive.
Theory 3: Life-Cycle Theory of Consumption
The Life-Cycle Theory of Consumption states that the level of consumption of
an individual depends on both the current income and on long-term
expectedearnings.
The starting point of the model is the assumption that the household's
decisions towards consumptions and savings, at some point, they both reflect more
or less a conscious attempt at achieving the preferred distribution of consumption
over the life cycle, subject to the constraint imposed by the resources accruing to the
household over its lifetime.
Individuals plan their spending over their lifetime taking into account their future
income. The life-cycle theory tells us how a person's consumption changes as
he/she grows. It states that, as we grow, our capacity to save increases as well as
the amount but there will be a time when it will decrease. There will be a certain
period of time when a person will be able to get a job and he/she would be able to
save a lot from her source of income and it will continue up until that person reaches
the age of retirement. In this age, the accumulated money would then be spent
according to that person's will. Regardless of other sources of income by that time,
the amount of money that will be saved would decrease (Modigliani, F., Ando, A., &
Brumberg, 1950).
CONCEPTS
Concept 1: On Financial Literacy
Financial literacy is defined as having the understanding and skills to make
the right financial decision (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2018). In today's world, the
youth needs extensive knowledge to make reasonable choices. There are a lot of
things, why financial literacy is helpful to a student. First, it helps them to scrutinize
their financial choices, especially in their everyday buying decisions. Second, it
provides a broad understanding of basic money management. Third, it improves
their outlook towards financial matters and lastly, it equips them to engage with the
society being diligent citizens who are capable to know where and how to invest their
money. Moreover, financial literacy is also defined as having the knowledge on how
money is made, spent and saved (My Accounting Course, 2018). It is the ability to
make decisions regarding the available financial resources in terms of knowing how
to generate, invest, spend, and save money. In like manner, as stated by Montalbo,
Pogoy, Villarante, and Pepito (2018), financial literacy is the understanding about
financial concepts wherein applying this knowledge will help improve the
effectiveness of decision making in terms of financial situations. Henceforth,

Fullenkamp (2013) points out that one should exert a great effort to develop his or
her financial literacy. A well-improved financial literacy enables an individual to be
confident enough in times of investing and taking out a mortgage. This will also help
in understanding what developments in the markets mean in a business or job.
Improving one's financial literacy may be tough as the financial system is vast and
complex. By this, the language of finance may be confusing which makes it
impossible to know where to start learning and where to go next.
According to Gonzales (2014), becoming financially literate and having
knowledge of basic money management skills is important for students. It can help
them know how to budget, handle credit and debit, approach investing in a
disciplined way, and even set up a retirement account. For this reason, Corridan
(2010) states that the more you understand how your behavior towards your
personal money may affect the improvements of good personal finance habits, the
more possibilities that you can prevent yourself from facing and making your
personal finances problematic.
The main reason why Filipinos give importance to financial literacy is basically
to be able to maximize their monthly salary to provide more than what they can give
out now to themselves and their family. Filipinos give attention to financial literacy to
be able to prepare and invest for their future as well as their family’s future
regardless of some reasons. Once a person is financially literate, one can do more
and can think of the things ahead of them. Financial literacy contributes greatly to
Filipino citizens, enabling them to have the ability to know how to manage their
personal finances and understanding how to save their money in banks. Filipinos will
not be the only ones to benefit the wonders of financial literacy ponders but also for
the greater good of the country’s economy (Ecomparemo, 2015).

Concept 2: On Financial Behavior
There are many factors which can affect a person's behavior. How a person
behaves with regards to handling financial resources is a result of the knowledge
that one was able to acquire during some events and instances that he/she was able
to encounter. As human beings, we are entitled and responsible of our own actions,
most especially on how an individual make decisions about handling and allocating
financial.resources.
According to Hilgert and Hogarth (2003), one's level of financial literacy
cannot be determined by his/her level of financial knowledge alone, it is basically
about application of the understandings since it does not follow that, if one have a
high level of financial knowledge then he/she does not face any financial difficulties.
Financial Behavior is defined as one of the determinants of a person's Financial
Literacy (Loke, 2015). Another study by Chaulagain (2017) states that, it is primarily
how persons deal with money, in other words, it is the application part of financial
literacy which contributes to a person's financial well-being. It is the incorporating of
financial knowledge, attitude and behavior. Being able to acquire financial knowledge
helps in the shaping of how a person behaves in terms money management.
Concept 3: On Budgeting Habits
Budgeting is an outline that keeps track of our income and expenses (St. Olaf
College, 2018). It is a never-ending process of learning. Through this basic element
of financial activities, we get to develop the sense of responsibility and right behavior
in terms of spending money as we avoid being in a financial crisis situation. Through
this, we are able to think thoroughly about prioritizing what needs to be put first
(Health Care Family Credit Union, 2017). Learning how to properly allocate our
financial resources will help us know our priorities and achieve our financial goals
(Duke University, 2015). For instance, Shim (2005) states that not being able to
properly allocate or budget resources may lead to problems and taking difficult risks.
It may not guarantee a hundred percent success, but budgeting helps us to avoid
problems and failures. It is all about planning and outlining future financial activities
and use financial resources (Walther & Skousen, 2009).
According to Davis, E.P. and Carr, R.A. (1992), Households at different stages
in the life cycle are typically expected to have different needs. The following stages
are the following:
Beginning stage - people aged 40 or younger, married or single, without
children
Expanding stage - married couple whose oldest child was under 13 years old
Contracting state - married couples whose oldest child was 13 years old or
older, including married couple under age 65 without children in the home
Retirement-aged stage - married couples and widowed persons age 65 and
older
It appears that after some point in the middle adulthood, or after children
arrive, households shift away from largely ental budgets and towards plan that are
partly written.
Concept 4: On Saving Habits
According to Denton, Fretz, and Spencer (2011), saving is the excess of
income overall expenditures. Expenditures, as mentioned, is a consumption which is

life contributions and saving behavior, on the other hand, is the money being kept
after an individual use it for their own wealth. Likewise, Ryan (2006) defines saving
as the means of setting aside some portion of the money so that an individual can
use it in the future. If these unpredictable needs are not to be given an attention, one
will suffer from an adversity.
There are several factors related to the saving behavior. Purwanto (2009),
describes family background as one of the factors influencing a student to partake in
a saving behavior. Students with a fortunate family tend to have an assistant to do
saving while students whose parents have a lower income is said to have a poor
source to do the saving. This was supported by the study conducted by Gratz
(2006), which states that providing an adequate education to their child's age is
important. The higher the education the parents have, the more they can educate
their children about the challenges in life since parents have at least already
experienced the same situation. Furthermore, when a student gets older, their
consumption also increases as well wherein they want to fulfill their needs. Students
think that their needs and consumptions are a part of their lifestyle. Lifestyle is one of
the personal consumption behaviors that dictates an individual toward the product
they can afford. It was found that lifestyle has become the tool to define target
customer in terms of classifying the product in the market (Krishnan, 2011).
Concept 5: On Debt Management Habits
Nowadays, the majority of the people find it difficult to withstand debt as it is
being normally promoted like toys (Keown, 2013). Upon entering college, debt
management plays an essential role in real life. It is salient to have knowledge in
what way you are going to account for and pay off your debt, which includes
considering your capability to settle debts without sacrificing all your finances (New
College of Florida, 2018).Correspondingly, Kotze and Smit (2008) explained that
there is a decrease in creating new opportunity when an exceedingly high level of
debt and low level of personal savings are present, in which a study conducted by
Bahovec, Barbic, and Palic (2015) mentioned that an immoderate condition of owing
money put the financial well-being of individuals at risk, which is a major and an
extreme complication among them, since one of the factors that may influence debt
behavior and may result to an increase in indebtedness is the level of financial
literacy. The study they have conducted proposes that individuals manifest a variety
of debt behavior based on their levels of financial literacy; moreover, individuals with
low level of financial literacy are projected to show inappropriate debt behavior,
which is more into debt than individuals who are financially literate. However, debt
management could be undertaken of the consumers by themselves and financial
experts suggest that their cost-of-living expenses as well as the money they spend
every month, to lower their debts, should be tracked for them to be able to implement
strategies in cutting costs for luxuries and other unnecessary things and to be able to
make sound financial decisions (Georgia State University, 2018). With this, Jayantilal
(2017) states that utilizing financial knowledge in comprehending the finances' time
value as well as its outcome on the borrowings to individuals must control their debt
practically and comprehend the amount of borrowing that it will cost.
Concept 6: On Spending Habits
According to Atri (2012), as an individual matures, he/she relies more on
evaluating product/service, features, and characteristics considering that the
influences from friends and family decreases. Hence, an individual makes an

independent decision. It is also stated that youth does not believe in saving and
believes more on spending in terms of entertainment, gadgets, eating out, and
personal grooming.
Personal resources, position in life, customs, background, and religion; and
values and goals are the personal factors influencing spending behavior. Economy,
technological advances, the environment, and the social pressures are considered
the macro-environmental factors affecting the spending patterns of an individual. In
the world of business, advertising, pricing, sales, and promotional technique are the
factors in the marketing strategies that influence an individual in their spending
behavior (Ryan, 2006).
Concept 7: On Determinants of Financial Literacy
Several studies identify the factors that influence the financial literacy of
students. According to Firli (2017), variables such as demographic profile,
knowledge on finance, deportment towards finance, financial perspective, and
financial orientation impact financial literacy. In relation to the demographic profile of
the students, one thing that affects the decisions made by an individual in every
financial undertaking is the adult life cycle (Kapoor, Dlabay, & Hughes, 2012). As a
matter of fact, the students’ level of financial literacy is influenced by their age as it is
enhanced by the experiences they encounter as they grow older (Luksander, Beres,
Huzdik, & Nemeth, 2014). Additionally, Ergun (2017) reported that students who are
living in boarding house or dormitories are found to be more well informed in terms of
finance compared to those who dwell with their parents.
Based on the reviewed literature, financial literacy is very essential to the
students as they make financial choices, understand money management, view

financial matters, and engage with the society as diligent individuals in investing
money. One study of Corridan (2010), stated that having more understanding about
personal finance behavior enables people avoid the risks and make responsible
financial decisions. However, more research is needed in determining one’s financial
literacy through knowledge because a study of Hilgert and Hogarth (2003) explained
that a person’s financial knowledge cannot identify directly how financially literate an
individual is. Hence, the level of financial literacy could be determined on how
students’ financial behavior is being developed in terms of their budgeting, saving,
spending, and debt management habits. It also goes to show that there are a lot of
factors that impact one’s financial literacy, which are demographic profile, financial
knowledge, deportment towards finance, financial perspective, and financial
orientation.
Theoretical Framework
Conceptual Framework
Having to make decisions related to money matters depend on the person
alone. It basically depends on the individual's knowledge about money management
and how he/she acts upon that knowledge accordingly. With this, the researchers
were able to provide theories and concepts to support this claim.
One of the theories talks about how a person is capable of controlling himself
upon making decisions financially. The Economic Theory of Self-control by Richard
Thales states that a person is both a planner and a doer. Which means that, a
person decides what he/she wants to do and eventually put actions to whatever
plans he/she makes. And these plans and actions solely depends on the person's
needs and wants. As discussed previously, a person has several needs, and it
basically starts on having the need to satisfy physiological and safety needs,
love/belongingness, esteem and self-actualization. These needs are patterned in a
hierarchy as illustrated by Abraham Maslow in his Motivation Theory. Our needs and
wants depends on what we have become in life. The last theory is the Life-Cycle
Theory of Consumption which is somehow related to the previous theory discussed
since, basically this theory tells us that people change their behavior financially as
they grow and this behavior may affect their consumption over goods and services
that depends upon what they need or want.
Financial Knowledge is obtained from the basic financial concepts introduced
at home and further developed in institutions through their financial education
programs. This then led to the development of their different behaviors towards
handling financial resources, these financial behaviors are budgeting, saving, debt
management, and spending.
How students manage their financial resources depend on how they were
raised and the environment that they have at home since parents are the first
teachers and they are also responsible for how they brought their children. Proper
behavior and discipline were implemented by the parents for the better growth of
their children. Parents are the first people to expose their children to the basics on
how to handle money and how to manage it.
Academic institutions also play a role in developing the financial literacy of the
students, as this is the place wherein, they learn to interact with other people and at
the same time, different programs that introduce financial education courses in
developing and improving their financial literacy level are implemented to equip them
for the preparation of real-life and future applications.
Financial knowledge acquired through household financial management and
financial education done by academic institutions mold the students’ attitude and
behavior towards handling financial resources. Students’ different views and
perspectives of the basic financial concepts affectstheir behavior in terms of
budgeting, saving, spending and managing their debts. The different factors affecting
the students’ behavior are their gender, age, academic strand, as well as their type
of accommodation. Gender plays its role as male and female have varied
characteristics and personality which affects their decision-making. The second
factor is the age, this is because as people grow, their needs and wants changes, as
well as their preferences. A 5-year old’s needs and wants is different from a 15-year
old teenager. The academic strand that the student belongs also affects their
financial behavior because the different strands focuses on different fields. For
example, an ABM student who is exposed to financial subjects is considered to be
more financially knowledgeable than a Non-ABM student. And lastly, the type of
accommodation they have affects the way they handle financial resources. There are
some students who are living with their relatives, some are living with their parents,
and some are living in dormitories. These different accommodations affect the way
students behave financially because, a student who have someone to guide and
help them financially is dependent to his/her relatives or parents that are near
him/her than those who lives independently in dormitories.
With these, it is expected that Senior High School Students of Xavier
University have varied levels of financial literacy based on their financial behavior
which are affected by the different factors.

CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the research methods that were undertaken. It
provides information on the participants involved in the study; who will be the
participants and how are they categorized. The researchers also described the
instrument that the study will use in order to collect relevant information from the said
respondents. Furthermore, this chapter also presents the procedure in collecting
data; the things to be done before, during, and after the conduct of the study. Lastly,
this paper explains the methods used to analyze the data being collected.
3.1. Research Design
This study made use of the quantitative research design where the research
approach implemented was that of a descriptive-comparative design. Researchers
employed this type of research design as they tried to establish a formal procedure
to compare and conclude that one is better than the other if significant difference
exists (Villanueva, 2013). As a descriptive-comparative type of study, this was used
to gather factual information by congregating the ideas through the use of surveys.
At the same time, this design was utilized to identify, analyse similarities and
difference in an attempt to draw a conclusion about them.
3.2. Context and Participants
There were 321 senior high school students of Xavier University-Ateneo de
Cagayan in S.Y. 2018-2019 who participated the study. They were composed of
both male and female students ages from 15 to 18-year-old who belonged from
different strands in academic courses, namely: Accountancy, Business and
Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Science,

Technology and Engineering Mathematics (STEM) and General Academic Strand
(GAS). The participants underwent various subjects depending on their specialized
strand, in which students in the ABM field were taught a number of finance-related
disciplines by Xavier University Senior High School teachers. In addition, the
respondents were said to have diverse exposures and behaviors in dealing with their
financial resources. Hence, in getting the sample size, the researchers made use of
the Cochran’s formula in determining the sample size of this study, the researchers
used Cochran’s formula as a means to calculate an ideal sample size given the
desired level of precision, confidence level, and the estimated proportion of the
attribute present in the population. Below shows how the sample size of the study is
being solved based on the Statistics How To (2019):
𝑍 2 𝑝𝑞
𝑛0 = 2
𝑒
Where:
e is the desired level of precision (i.e. the margin of error),
p is the estimated proportion of the population
q is 1 - p
Z is the Z value
Assuming that the confidence level is 95% which gives a 1.96 Z value in the
Z-table, a 5% desired level of precision and a 0.5 estimated population proportion,
we get:
𝑛0 =(1.96)2 (0.5)(0.5)/(0.5)2
𝑛0 =384.16 ≈385
A random sample of 385 students in the target population was enough to get
the confidence level. Since the population is small, the researchers have made use
of the equation below:
n = 𝑛0 1 + 𝑛0 – 1/N
Where:
n0 is the Cochran’s sample size recommendation
N is the population size, there were a total of 1,929 Xavier University senior
high school students
n = 385(1) + (385 - 1)/1,929
n = 321. 08≈321 respondents
Hence, the researchers only need 321 respondents to participate in the study
in order to fully assess the level of financial literacy of Xavier University senior high
school students in terms of their budgeting, saving, debt management and spending
habits.
3.3. Instruments
For the collection of data, the researchers created their own questionnaire
based on the different theories and concepts of different authors to cater major
aspects of financial behavior which included mainly: budgeting, saving, debt
management, and spending. The questions were categorized according to their
variable to measure its connection as to how financially literate the students were.
The researchersdistributed the questionnaires which wasmade up of close-ended
questions. Also, choices were given for the answers to be certainly analyzed as well
as to provide specific and concrete information. With this, the respondents were
asked to fill out the demographic data first then followed by answering the 30
questions which covers 24 items of Likert Scale, 2 multiple choice items and 4-item
rating scale questions. For the Likert Scale items in the survey questionnaire, the
structure was arranged in the following item distribution sequence:
Item Number Variable Measured:
Numbers 1-5 Budgeting
Numbers 6-14 Saving
Numbers 15-19 Debt Management
Numbers 20-24 Spending Habits
The questionnaire covered the necessary information about attitudes and
knowledge as well as to apprehend the behavior that has a connection to the
concepts about managing financial resources, creating a plan for both short-term
and long-term financial goals and the recognition and option of financial products.
This questionnaire was outlined to be suitable from one side to the other of people
having varied educational background, income levels, and markets with different
levels of financial inclusion. Pilot testing has been conducted to verify the validity and
reliability of the questions using Cronbach’s Alpha. In doing so, there were 30
random participants who engaged in the pilot testing of the study coming from grade
11 and 12 strands namely: Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM),
Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Science, Technology and Engineering
Mathematics (STEM) and General Academic Strand (GAS).
3.4 Data-gathering Procedure
 Several meetings were held prior to the conduction of survey so as to develop
the modified data collection and evaluate its appropriateness. Data collection
materials were prepared to ensure that there would be no errors in making the
survey questionnaires.
 Pilot testing was held first before the final survey so as to test the research
approach and test the 30 participants. With this Cronbach’s Alpha was utilized
which measures the reliability or internal consistency of how well the items in
the survey questionnaire measure the same construct. Cronbach’s Alpha
shows that the higher the score, the more reliable the generated scale is. It is
often associated with the assertion that instruments used in basic research
should have a reliability of 0.70 or better. Nunnally (1978). But as for this
study, the researchers came up with a reliability coefficient of 0.8 from their
data.
 Once the pilot testing was done, the researchers sought for the approval from
their research adviser to conduct the final survey adviser.
 As for selecting the sample size, the stratified random sampling was used.
This is the most appropriate sampling method since the characteristics of the
different subgroups may influence the variable being measured. In addition,
stratified random sampling enables the researchers to gather information from
representatives of each subgroup. Using this sampling technique, the total
population of the XUSHS community were divided into four stratas. These
stratas were the four strands which are Accountancy, Business and
Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS), Science,
Technology and Engineering Mathematics (STEM) and General Academic
Strand (GAS).
 Conducting this research is in a form of randomly selecting class number in
both Grade 11 and 12 sections. These sections are arranged alphabetically

and researchers did not take a look at the class lists to avoid being biased.
There were 80 respondents coming from the ABM, HUMSS, and GAS while
there were 81 students coming from the STEM strand since it has a bigger
population. All in all, the sample size would be 321 Xavier University Senior
High School students who would be the participants.
 During the conduct of the survey, the researchers first asked permission from
the respondents in taking the survey questionnaires which are the Xavier
University-Ateneo de Cagayan Senior High School students.
 Respondents were given several instructions on the things to consider upon
answering the questionnaire. The respondents were given enough time to
answer the questionnaire. Since it is self-administered and delivered
personally to different students, the research instrument will allow the
participants to respond more truthfully with the questions provided due to
assurance of anonymity and privacy. There would be an allotted time of 20
minutes to answer the questionnaire.
 After the students have completed answering all the questions, questionnaires
will then be collected by the research personnel to tally the answers. This will
be analyzed and interpreted as a basis for assessing the financial literacy of
Xavier University Senior High School students through their budgeting,
saving, debt management and spending habits. The data will then be archived
immediately to preserve its confidentiality.
3.5. Data Analysis
The following statistical techniques was used to treat the data and answer the
hypotheses:
Percentage/Frequency.This was used to identify the ratio among the student’s
demographic data in terms of their age, gender, strand, type of residency and as well
as its level of financial literacy in regards to their saving, debt management,
spending and budgeting habits.
Mean. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. This was used
to determine the average of each variable in the study namely: budgeting saving,
debt management, and spending habits in which this would be used to determine the
level the student’s overall financial literacy.
F-Test.The statistical test that was intended to assess if the variances of two
samples were equal through comparing the F statistics value to the F critical value
(Snedecor and Cochran, 1983).
T-test.This type of statistical technique was used to measure the significant
difference between the means of each group in the demographic profile of the
respondents namely: age, strand, gender, and type of residence. This was utilized to
identify whether there was a significant difference of the demographic profile of the
respondents to their financial behavior.
From the questionnaire used, the researchers then assessed the level of the
XUSHS financial literacy through their budgeting, saving, debt management, and
spending habits. In this case, a certain range in the four-point Likert Scale was
followed to be able to analyse and interpret the data. The highest value, 4, was
deducted by the lowest value 1, then the difference was then divided by 4 (Statistics
How to, 2019). A result of 0.75 was used as the interval between the descriptors.
The interval used was the significance for a four-point Likert Scale (Watrin, 2016).
With this, when the mean falls under the range of 1-1.75, it can be described as low
level in financial literacy. This can be implied that students do not apply their
knowledge when it comes to managing their finances which lead them to become
financially illiterate. Also, this behaviour showed that students neglect the idea of
being responsible in their financial resources. A range from 1.76-2.50 showed a
slightly low level in financial literacy. This can also be explained that students were
not able to apply effectively to a particular extent their financial knowledge in their
day to day dealings involving money. While 2.51-3.25 was for moderately high which
can be inferred that students have a good performance with regards to dealing with
their financial resources. Having this level showed that students were able to
practice behaviours in budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending that led
them to become responsible individuals in terms of handling their money but their
behaviours were not applied to a greater extent. Lastly, 3.26-4.00 can be indicated
as high level wherein students were able to apply the knowledge they have gained in
their daily experiences. These were the influences they learned from their family,
friends, and teacher/school.
Table 1: Data Interpretation Scale for Financial Literacy
Range Level Financial Behaviour Financial Literacy
Low in Financial Literacy

1-1.75 Low Low in Financial Behaviour
Slightly Low in Financial Slightly Low in Financial
1.76-2.50 Slightly Low Behaviour Literacy
Moderately Moderately High in Financial Moderately High in
2.51-3.25 High Behaviour Financial Literacy
3.26-4.00 High High in Financial Behaviour High in Financial Literacy

The table above showed that the data interpretation scale for both financial
behaviour and financial literacy. Data interpretation scale for financial behaviourwas
interpreted as low in financial behaviour, slightly low in financial behaviour,
moderately high in financial behaviour, and high in financial behaviour. As
showed,the interpretation for financial literacycan be interpreted as low in financial
literacy, slightly low in financial literacy, moderately high in financial literacy, and high
in financial literacy. The level and data interpretation scale for financial literacy and
financial behaviour was utilized from the study made by National Bank of Georgia
which is the Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion Study (2016). This study used
a five-point Likert scale in assessing the financial literacy of the respondents. For this
study, the researchers employed their level of financial literacy however it removed
the average level so as to correspond with the four-point Likert scale they used.
As defined, financial literacy is the capability of an individual to make effective
decisions from its core informed judgements regarding the use of money and
managing it. Also, Nelson and Wambugu (2008) stated that financial literacy teaches
the knowledge, skills and attitudes that people can use to adopt a good money
management practices for earning, spending, savings, borrowings and investing.
Financial behaviour on the other hand can be viewed through measures such as
spending and saving habits, borrowing patterns, budgeting level and access to
financial products (Odek, 2015)
To be called as financially literate, the individual should have the ability to
understand financial terms and concepts and translate such knowledge to a skilful
behaviour such as saving, budgeting, and investing (Engelbrecht, 2014). With this,
individuals should deeply comprehend and apply the financial concepts in daily life. If
they mostly do not apply these concepts or has low application of proper saving,
budgeting, spending and debt management, then this may mean that they are
financially illiterate. The lack of financial literacy may lead to making poor financial
choices or financial behaviour that can cause negative consequences on the
financial well-being of an individual (Kenton, 2018).

CHAPTER 4
PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
4.1 Introduction
This chapter describes the analysis of data followed by a discussion of the
research findings which relates to the research questions set by the study. Data
were analyzed to identify and describe the level of financial literacy of the Xavier
University Senior High School students in terms of their budgeting, saving, debt
management, and spending habits. Data were obtained from self-administered
questionnaires completed by 321 respondents between January 16 and January 24,
2019. The data from the questionnaires were statistically analyzed using the
respective formulas for descriptive statistics. The findings are discussed according to
the research questions investigated in the study:
1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, strand and type
of residence?
2. What is the level of financial behavior of the respondents in terms of their
budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending habits?
3. What is the level of financial literacy of the senior high school students?
4. What are the factors that greatly influenced the respondents’ level of financial
literacy according to their budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending
habits?
5. What are the differences of the level of financial literacy of the respondents
when grouped according to age, gender, strand and type of residence?

4.2. Results
4.2.1. Demographic Profile
This set of data was intended to describe the demographic variables of the
sample. The demographic data consists of age, gender, strand and type of
residence.
Figure 1 shows the Xavier University Senior High School students’ age. The
researchers classified them into two(2): 18 below and 18 and above. As shown in the
graph, 64.2% of the respondents are below 18 years old while 35.8% are 18 years
old and above. This indicates that there is greater number of respondents whowere
classified as minors with age ranging from 15 to 17 years old.

Figure 2 shows the proportion of the gender of the Xavier University Senior
High School students who answered the survey. As shown in the graph above,
majority of the students who answered the survey are female composing 59.2% of
the total sample size. The male respondents, on the other hand, composes 40.8% of
the total sample size.
Figure 3 presents all strands of both Grade 11 and Grade 12 students in
Xavier University Senior High School who participated in the study. The researchers
grouped the sectors into two which are ABM and Non-ABM strands; coded as 1 and
2 respectively. The results show that there are 24.9% students coming from ABM
who participated in the study while there are 75.1% for non-ABM strands which is
composed of GA, HUMSS, and STEM.

The figure above shows the proportion of the type of residence of the
respondents. The results show that 29.0% of the respondents are living away from
their parents. This means that these students are living in boarding house,
dormitories, pads, with their relatives, etc. The 71.0% shows the percentage of the
respondents who are living with their parents.

4.2.2. Students’ Level of Financial Literacy
Table 2.Interpretation Table of the Level of Financial Literacy
CATEGORY FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE FINANCIAL FINANCIAL

BEHAVIOUR LITERACY
1 1 0.31 Low level in Low level in

Financial Financial
Behavior Literacy
2 43 13.40 Slightly Low Low level in

level in Financial Financial
Behavior Literacy
3 232 72.27 Moderately High Low level in

level in Financial Financial
Behavior Literacy
4 45 14.02 High level in Low level in

Financial Financial
Behavior Literacy
Table 2 and Figure 5 indicate the overall level of financial behavior of the
senior high school respondents in terms of budgeting, saving, debt management and
spending. The graph shown above reveals that 45 students or 14.02% are levelled
as high in financial literacy. Moreover, most of the students composing of 232 or
72.27% have high level in financial literacy, however, 43 students or 13.40% are
slightly low and only one student is levelled as low in financial literacy. This means
that majority of the students are moderately high when it comes to how they budget,
save, manage their debts, and spend their money.
Figure 6 displays the proportion of the level of financial behavior in terms of
budgeting habits of the Xavier University Senior High School students. From the
graph above, 52.3% with 168 respondents of the total sample size are in a
moderately high level of financial behavior in terms of budgeting their finances, which
covers mostly of the respondents. Also, there are 27 students possessing the slightly
low level of budgeting habits with a total of 27.1% of the sample size, while 61
students are having a high level of budgeting habits with 19% of the sample size.
And lastly, there are 5 respondents who exercised low in financial literacy when it
comes to budgeting their finances that can be seen in the graph as 1.6% of the total
sample size.
Figure 7 shows the financial behavior of Xavier University Senior High School
students in terms of their saving habits. As shown in the pie graph above, there are
201 respondents having the level of moderately high with 62.6% of the sample size
indicating that majority of the students tend to save their money whenever they want.
As for the high level it reveals 99 students who fell under this level of financial
behavior comprising 30.8% of the sample size, while under the level of slightly low
there are and 20 respondents with 6.2% of the sample size. Lastly, there is only 1
student under the low level of financial behavior with 0.3% of the sample size.
Figure 8 reveals Xavier University Senior High School student’s level of
financial behavior based on their debt management. In the graph, it can be seen that
most of the respondents are in a moderately high level of financial behavior in terms
of managing their debts, which reflects as 68.5% composing of 220 respondents of
the total sample size and 22.4%, which comprises 72 of the respondents indicates a
slightly low level of financial behavior in debt management. Also, in 8.7% of the total
sample size, 28 respondentsare in a high level of financial behavior. Hence, there is
only 1 respondent who is low in financial behavior in terms of handling debts as it
covers 0.3% of the sample size.
Figure 9 shows the students’ level of financial behavior based on their
spending habits. As seen in the graph, about 177 students or 55.1% of the sample
size are levelled as moderately high in financial behavior, and 94 or 29.3% As for the
94 respondents, they possess 29.3% of the sample size having a moderately high
level in financial behavior based on spending. On the other hand, there are 45
students having a low level in financial behavior composing 14.0%, and only 5
students or 1.6% are having a high level in financial behavior.

4.2.3. Factors that Greatly Influence the Students’ Budgeting, Saving, Debt
Management, and Spending Habits
There are several factors that influence the way students’ budget, save,
manage their debts, and spend their finances, namely: personal, family or parents,
friends, and the school or teachers (Firli, 2017). These will help in identifying how
each factor significantly or insignificantly affect each of the financial behavior.
Figure 10 displays Xavier University-Senior High School student’s personal
influence on their budgeting habits. Rating the factors tells that one(1) is being the
least and four(4) is being the highest. From the overall results given, personal choice
ranked the highest among the other influences or factors selected by 183 students of
the sample size. This is followed by a number of 58 students who ranked this factor
as second greatest, 52 students ranked this as the third greatest and lastly 28
students ranked this factor as the least influencer.

Figure 11 shows the Xavier University-Senior High School students’ family
influence on their budgeting habits. This reveals that among all the respondents, 146
of them considered family as the second greatest influencer in their budgeting habits.
This is then followed by 96 respondents who ranked family as the third greatest
influencer, 46 respondents considered it as greatest influencer, and 33 respondents
considered it as the least influencer of their budgeting habits.
Figure 12 represents Xavier University-Senior High School student’s friends
influence on their budgeting habits. There are 147 respondents who took their
friends as the third greatest influencer, 85 respondents consider them as the second
greatest influencer, 58 respondents consider it as the least influencer, and 31
respondents consider it as the greatest influencer.
Figure 13 shows Xavier University-Senior High School student’s
school/teacher influence on their budgeting habits. From the data presented above, it
can be seen that there were 167 respondents who considered the school/teachers
as the least influencer when it comes to their budgeting habits. This was then
followed by a number of 65 respondents who considered them as the greatest
influencer, 49 respondents considered them as the third greatest, and 40
respondents considered them as the second greatest influencers.

Figure 14 shows the Xavier University Senior High School student’s personal
influence on saving habits. This reveals that 199 respondents considered it as the
greatest influencer in their saving habits. This is then followed by 39 respondents
who ranked their personal choice as the second greatest influencer, 18 respondents
who ranked it as the third greatest and 65 respondents who ranked personal choice
as the least of all.
Figure 15 displays Xavier University-Senior High School student’s family
influence on their saving habits. This states that 36 respondents considered family
as the greatest influencer in the saving habits. This is then followed by 167
respondents who ranked family as the second greatest influencer, while 90
respondents considered this factor as the third greatest. Lastly, there are 28
respondents who considered family as the least of all.

Figure 16 represents Xavier University-Senior High School student’s friends
influence on their saving habits. As shown, there are 25 respondents who labelled
friends as the greatest influencer in their savings habits while there are 76
respondents who answered friends as the second influencer. Also, there are 145
respondents who responded friends as the third influencer and lastly there are 75
respondents who ranked friends as the least.
Figure 17 displays Xavier University-Senior High School student’s
school/teacher influence on their saving habits. It displays that there that there are
56 respondents who selected school/teacher as the greatest influencer affecting their

saving habits followed by 39 respondents rating school/teacher as the second
greatest influencer. There are also 69 respondents who answered this factor as the
third greatest influencer affecting their saving habits. Lastly, there are 157 of the
respondents stating that school/teacher ranked the least of all.
Figure 18 shows the Xavier University-Senior High School student’s personal
influence on their debt management habits. Among all the respondents, there were
156 respondents who took their personal choice as the greatest influencer when it
comes to their debt management habits. This was then followed by a number of 68
respondents taking it as the second greatest influencer, 64 respondents taking it as
the least influencer as 33 taking it as the third greatest influencer.

Figure 19 presents the Xavier University-Senior High School students’ family
influence on their debt management habits. There was a total of 137 respondents
who were able to consider their family as the second greatest influencer when it
comes to their debt management habits. A number of 93 respondents consider their
family as the third greatest influencer, 51 students consider them as the greatest
influencer, and 40 students considered their family as the least influencer.
Figure 20 presents the Xavier University-Senior High School students’ friends
influence on their debt management habits. There was a total of 148 respondents
who took their friends as the third greatest influencer, 81 respondents considered
them as the second greatest influencer, 49 respondents considered them as the
least influencer, and 43 respondents considered them as the greatest influencer.

Figure 21 shows Xavier University-Senior High School students’
school/teachers influence on their debt management habits. Among all the
respondents, there were a total of 168 respondents who considered them as the
least influencer. This was the followed by a number of 72 respondents who took
them as the greatest influencer, 46 respondents who considered them as the third
greatest influencer, and 35 respondents considered them as the second greatest
influencer.
Figure 22 displays Xavier University-Senior High School student’s personal
influence on their spending habits. As stated above, there are 191 respondents who
consider personal choice as the greatest influencer in their spending habits followed
by 40 students who ranked personal choice as the second greatest influencer in their
spending habits. There are also 22 students who consider personal choice as the
third greatest influencer in this factor and lastly, there are 68 students who selected
personal choice as the least influencer.
Figure 23entails Xavier University-Senior High School student’s family
influence on their spending habits. Under this influence, there are 33 respondents
who ranked family as the greatest influence in their spending habits followed by 132
respondents who ranked this influence as the second greatest. Also, there are 102
respondents who rank family as the third greatest influencer in their spending habits
and lastly, there are 54 respondents stating that family ranks the least of all.
Figure 24 entails Xavier University-Senior High School student’s friends
influence on their spending habits. With this, it is stated that there are 36
respondents who respond friends as the greatest influence in their spending habits
followed by 107 respondents who answered friends as the second greatest influence
in this factor. There are also 136 respondents stating that friends rank the third
greatest influence in their spending habits. Lastly, there are 42 respondents ranking
friends as the least factor influencing their spending habits.

Figure 25 exhibits Xavier University-Senior High School student’s
school/teacher influence on their spending habits. As being stated, there are 58
respondents who answered school/teacher as the greatest influencer affecting their
spending habits followed by 45 respondents answering school/teacher as the second
greatest influencer. Also, there are 57 respondents who rank school/teacher as the
third greatest influence in their spending habits and lastly, there are 161 respondents
who selected this influence as the least of all.
4.2.4. Significant Difference between the Students’ Level of Financial Literacy
and their Demographic Profile
4.2.4.1. F-test
In order to identify if there is a significant difference in the students’ level of
financial literacy in terms of their demographic profile which includes the age,
gender, strand, and type of residence, the researchers used the statistical test which
is the T-test. To determine whether what type of T-test will be utilized, either for
equal or unequal variances, an F-test of every sub variable was computed.
According to Snedecor and Cochran (1983), an F-test is used to test if the variances
of two samples are equal. In order to identify whether the two variances are equal or
unequal, the F statistics value is compared to the F critical value.

TABLE 3. F-TEST RESULTS BETWEEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
WHO ARE 18 YEARS OLD BELOW AND 18 YEARS OLD AND ABOVE
The table shows the results of the F-test two-sample for variances of the
students’ level of financial literacy classified according to their age (below 18 and 18
and above years old). Results show that the variance of the respondents that
belongs to ages below 18 years old age is 0.096241764 while respondents
belonging to the ages of 18 years old and above is 0.095123112. In this case, the F
statistics value is 1.011760044 and the F critical value is1.32162041. This means
that the F statistics value is less than the F critical value which made the two sample
variances to be equal.
TABLE 4. F-TEST RESULTS BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE SENIOR HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS
students’ level of financial literacy classified according to their gender (male and
female). Results show that the variance of the male respondents is 0.11247165
while the female respondents is 0.081102991. In this case, the F statistic value is
1.386775616 and the F critical value is 1.299669179. This means that the F statistic
value is greater than the F critical value which made the two sample variances to be
unequal.
TABLE 5. F-TEST RESULTS BETWEEN ABM AND NON-ABM SENIOR
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
students’ level of financial literacy classified according to their strand (ABM and non-
ABM). Results show that the variance of the respondents belonging to the ABM
strand is 0.110707199 while the respondents belonging to the non-ABM strand is
0.09296166. In this case, the F statistic value is 1.190890951 and the F critical value
is 1.336127463. This means that the F statistic value is less than the F critical value
which made the two sample variances to be equal.

TABLE 6. F-TEST RESULTS BETWEEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’
LIVING WITH AND LIVING AWAY FROM THEIR PARENTS
students’ level of financial literacy classified according to their type of residence
(living with parents and living away from parents). Results show that the variance of
the respondents who were living with their parents is 0.098158926 while the
respondents living away from their parents is 0.093385798. In this case, the F
statistic value is 1.051111923 and the F critical value is 1.350369923. This means
that the F statistic value is less than the F critical value which made the two sample
variances to be equal.
Overall, the difference between the means of the sub variables which are age,
strand, and type of residence will be tested through utilizing the t-test: two samples
using equal variances while the gender will be tested through the t-test: two samples
assuming unequal variances.

4.2.4.2. T-test
TABLE 7. T-TEST RESULTS BETWEEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
WHO ARE 18 YEARS OLD BELOW AND 18 YEARS OLD AND ABOVE
The table shows two-sample t-test assuming equal variances of Xavier
University Senior High School students’ age between 18 years old below and 18
years old and above with a t Stat value of 2.465518027 that is greater than the t
Critical two-tail value of 1.967428387. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis. The
observed difference between the sample means, which is 0.088849726 is evident
that the level of financial literacy between the age of the respondents below 18 years
old and 18 years and above vary significantly.

TABLE 8. T-TEST RESULTS BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS
The table indicates two-sample t-test assuming unequal variances of Xavier
University Senior High School students’ gender between male and female. It has a t
Stat value of 3.479097606, which is greater than 1.969536868, the value of the t
Critical two tail. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis. A difference of 0.124735235
between the two-sample means has revealed that there is a significant difference in
the level of financial literacy between male and female XUSHS students.
TABLE 9. T-TEST RESULTS BETWEEN ABM AND NON-ABM SENIOR HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS
The table reveals a two-sample t-test assuming equal variances of Xavier
University Senior High School students’ strand between Accountancy and Business
Management (ABM) and Non-ABM. It has a t Stat value of 1.011110336 that is
lesser than the t Critical two-tail value, which is 1.967428387, therefore, we do not
reject the null hypothesis. A value of 0.040707988 as the observed difference
between the sample means does not truly imply a significant variation in terms of the
level of financial literacy between ABM and Non-ABM XUSHS students.

TABLE 10. T-TEST RESULTS BETWEEN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’
LIVING WITH AND LIVING AWAY FROM THEIR PARENTS
The table shows two-sample t-test assuming equal variances of Xavier
University Senior High School students’ type of accommodation with a t Stat value of
-2.163016901, which is lesser than the t Critical two-tail value of 1.967428387.
Therefore, we do not reject the null hypothesis. A difference of -0.082569326
between the sample means is not convincing enough to conclude that there is a
significant difference between students living with their parents and students living
away from their parents in terms of the level of their financial literacy.
4.3. Discussion
4.3.1 Discussion on Results on the Level of Financial Behavior of Xavier
University Senior High School Students in terms of their Budgeting, Saving,
Debt Management, and Spending Habits

4.3.1.1. Budgeting Habits
The students’ level of financial behavior, assessed through their budgeting
habits, was moderately high with a corresponding value of 2.86. This means that the
senior high school students of Xavier University were able to show a good budgeting
habit. It implies that the students were able to budget their financial resources well.
As what Walther and Skousen (2009) said, budgeting deals with planning out on how
to allocate the financial resources properly. In this case, it can be seen that the
moderately high level of financial behavior reveals that the students were able to
plan out on how they will allot their money on different purposes and take into
consideration the different factors that affect the way on how their budgeting will be
done. Example of these factors were the amount of money at hand, the prices of the
product or services, and the time span which is the amount of time the money will be
expected to cover. As senior high school students, it is expected from them that they
were able to have this sense of responsibility and this includes the responsibility of
properly handling their financial resources which was emphasized by Shim (2005).
As time goes by, these individuals have grown and at the same time, the amount of
money given to them increased in order to meet the increasing level of consumption.
This was pointed out by the Life Cycle Theory of Consumption by Modiglani, Ando,
and Brumberg (1950), which stated that the savings of an individual increases as
he/she grows along with the increase in their consumption. The act of saving comes
along with the act of budgeting their financial resources well in order to have a
portion of it to be saved for future expenses. This theory can be associated with
Davis and Carr’s concept of budgeting practices over the life cycle. It was stated that
just like saving, budgeting undergoes a cycle that was being practiced by different
households which directly affect on how these students budget their money since
71.03% of the students were said to be living with their parents. Additionally, this
moderately high level of financial behavior of the students in terms of their budgeting
habits reveals that most of these students knowingly or unknowingly practice the
“planner-doer” model as mentioned in The Economic Theory of Self Control by
Thaler (1981). It was clearly stated that this model gave an emphasis to the self-
giving enough significance to the long-term objectives and to what is the current
situation. With this, the moderately high level of financial literacy of the students
implicates that these individuals were able to develop the “planner-self” as they tend
to budget their money in order to cover up their expenses not just for a particular day
but for the upcoming days which he/she was expecting her money to be consumed.
The thing of just having a moderately high level was it can be that they are just doing
this mentally since 43% of the respondents disagree and 19% strongly disagree to
the act of budgeting money through making written records. They were able to
budget their money but there can be possibilities that the budgeting plan will not be
followed because of the fact that it is just mentally done which can be highly
subjected to forgetting the exact plan because, as students, there are a lot of things
to think of most especially in academic related stuffs and different kinds of situations
being encountered.
4.3.1.2. Saving Habits
The highest level of financial behavior of the students is under moderately
high based on their saving habits, revealing a value of 3.03 in the bar graph.
According to Denton, Fretz, and Spencer (2011), saving is the excess of income
overall expenditures. Expenditures, as mentioned, is a consumption which is life
contributions and saving behavior, on the other hand, is the money being kept after
an individual use it for their own wealth. This means that majority of the students of
Xavier University Senior High School are showing a pleasant behavior in terms of
saving their money in a way that they try to save money for the future and for
unexpected expenses rather than spending it. In addition, students tend to save their
money regularly even only a little portion of their allowances. With this, it highlighted
the desirable attitude of “Propensity to save”, wherein one is capable to save
whenever and wherever he/she can. Modigliani, Ando and Brumberg (1950s)
mentioned that financial education affects teenagers’ propensity to save but it does
not necessarily improve their financial behavior level. It is because some may have
low level of financial behavior but chose to act in a resource conscious manner, in
other words, just being practical. While there are some who have high financial
behavior level because of financial education classes that was taken but do not use
it appropriately.
As students, most of them may spend money on everyday needs but they
tend to save the rest. This implies a good practice of saving habit in which they can
use in the longer run. It was mentioned in The Life-cycle Theory of Consumption how
a person's consumption changes as he/she grows. However, as we grow, our
capacity to save increases as well as the amount. Nonetheless, due to the result of
majority of the students having a moderately high level of financial literacy based on
their saving habits, they still have much time to learn more about saving their money
in order to achieve higher level of financial behavior.
4.3.1.3. Debt Management Habits
The result of Xavier University Senior High School students’ level of financial
behavior based on their debt management revealed a level of moderately high with a
mean of 2.63. It was being emphasized by Bahovec, Barbic, and Palic (2015) that
one of the factors that may influence debt behavior and may result to an increase in
indebtedness is the level of financial behavior. Due to result of a moderately high
level of financial behavior, it means that the students are having good habits in terms
of managing their finances. They were able to manage their debts in a relatively high
manner, in which most of the time, they tend to control their debts in their own
convenience without following a truly structured plan. Also, students were usually
able to pay their debts on time without delay for days, weeks, months, or years. They
were already aware about the negative effect that could possibly result by borrowing
finances regularly, which led an individual to experience indebtedness. As mentioned
by the New College of Florida (2018), it is salient to have knowledge in what way you
are going to account for and pay off your debt, which includes considering your
capability to settle debts without sacrificing all your finances. Through this, as they
possess the knowledge of debt management, they tend to refrain in some instances
from borrowing money to others, such as making debts regularly just to buy food or
pay their necessary fees in school. Moreover, because of their knowledge they
consider as well their capabilities in resolving credits, which Jayantilal (2017) had
also proven that it could control an individual’s debt practically and comprehend the
amount of money that will cost when borrowing. Whenever students were faced with
situation, like losing their main source of allowance or finances, in some way they
could promptly recover their expenses in school in the absence of having debts.
As the students perform a moderately high level of financial behavior in terms
of managing their debts, they had exercised self-control upon dealing with their
existing debts that are suited to their financial ability to settle them just on time and
the temptation of being into debts. The Economic Theory of Self-Control developed
by Richard Thaler in 1981 had stated that self-control affects financial behavior of all
sorts of economic agents, such as families, firms, government, and Central Banks.
Whenever an individual has self-control, good behavior is present. On the other
hand, when there is an absence of self-control, a person usually falls to mistakes,
tempted to dive into pleasures and impulsive and excessive consumption.
4.3.1.4. Spending Habits
The financial behavior level of the Xavier University Senior High School
Students based on their spending habits shows a measure of 2.78 which implies that
the respondents were able to get moderately high level of financial behavior. When
talking about spending habits, it is the act if taking into consideration other factors
upon purchasing any goods or services, it is the act of responsible buying. The result
shows a good implication since it shows that the students are responsible enough to
handle and allocate their money in terms of buying and spending. As a person
grows, he/she develop a sense of independence when making decisions related to
financial matters. According to Atri (2012), as an individual matures, he/she relies
more on evaluating product/service, features, and characteristics considering that
the influences from friends and family decreases, this goes to show that how they
manage their financial resources depends on the environment that they come from.
Based on the Economic Theory of Self-control, it is in the nature of humans to
be tempted into the pleasure of consumption and it is up to the person whether they
would be swoon over that temptation. Students are usually bombarded with different
activities not just at school but also in their social and personal lives. With this, they
are surrounded with a lot of influences that affects their consumption. And their
consumption is based solely in the aspects of planning and doing, as what the
Economic Theory of Self-control model shows, wherein a person is a planner and at

the same time, a doer. Also, in the Life-cycle theory of consumption, individuals plan
out their spending based on their income. As students, their income are their own
allowances given to them by their parents and it is up to them how they would handle
and allocate their money to satisfy both their needs and wants.
4.3.2. Discussion on the Results of the Factors that Greatly Affects the
Students’ Budgeting, Saving, Debt Management, and Spending Habits
4.3.2.1. Budgeting Habits
Figures 10-13 has shown the Xavier University Senior High School students’
budgeting behavior influenced by their personal decision, family, friends and
teachers. Over all, among the four factors, personal choice ranked as the highest
influencer comprising a total of 183 number of students. In this sense, students apply
their own basic financial knowledge in their daily decision of managing their money.
In connection with that, it was stated in the concept of Household Financial
Management: The Connection between Knowledge and Behavior by Hilgert and
Hogarth (2003) that there is a correlation between financial knowledge and financial
behavior. It states that those who score higher in a financial literacy test are more
likely to follow recommended financial practices. Through this, students are able to
think thoroughly about prioritizing what needs to be put first (Health Care Family
Credit Union, 2017). Next are the family/parents. It was revealed that the influences
of the family/parents were ranked as the second highest among the four factors
having a total of 146 students to vote family as their least influencer in terms of
budgeting. It was mentioned by Mattessich and Hill (1987) in their theory of family
development that historically, family development theorists assumed that families

move through deterministic, invariant numbers, types, and timing of stages over time
consistent with ontogenetic stage theories of child development. With this, families
have their own way of budgeting and managing money that is why it gives impact on
their children’/the students’ budgeting habit. As for the friends, a total of 147 students
ranked their friends as their third greatest influencer among the four factors. It was
stated in the budgeting concept that through the basic element of financial activities
like budgeting, people get to develop the sense of responsibility and right behavior in
terms of spending money as they avoid being in a financial crisis situation. With this
responsibility, students tend to go along with their friends in managing their
allowances and planning before any expenses happen. Students could be influenced
by their friends in budgeting during gathering and exchanging ideas about financial
management. Lastly are the teachers, composing 167 number of students to vote for
it as their least influencer in terms of budgeting. Financial education is learned in
school which is taught by the teachers with corresponding lessons, practices and
exercises that can practically state the students’ financial capabilities. Duke
University (2015) stated that learning how to properly allocate financial resources will
help students know their priorities and achieve financial goals. By this means, some
students can influence from their teachers due to the lessons being taught to them
as well as the practices that are being trained. In addition, influences have an impact
on their financial management capabilities which ask the teenagers to have self-
control towards the various influences they obtained in the school environment.
4.3.2.2. Saving Habits
Figures 14-17 presented the Xavier University Senior High School students’
spending behavior based on the influences of their personal choice, family/parents,

peers/friends, and teachers. It was revealed in the overall outcome that personal
choice gains the highest rank among the four factors having 199 students to vote it
as their greatest influence. By this, majority of the students are implying that they are
independent enough to handle their money by putting aside portion of their
allowance for future and practical purposes. This is strengthened by Ryan (2006) as
he defines saving as the means of setting aside some portion of the money so that
an individual can use it in the future. As students, even though they only have limited
money, they still manage to save a portion of it by personal means. But as time goes
by, these students will grow as well as their income. This can be seen in the Life-
Cycle Theory of Consumption wherein it states that the level of consumption of an
individual depends on both the current income and on long-term expected earnings.
In relation with it, the behavior of the students’ personal choice can be affected by
the cycle of life. As for the family, a number of 167 students has ranked family as
their second greatest influencer. This indicates that students were able to gain
knowledge from his/her home and his/her family. Gratz (2006) mentioned that
parents are the first teacher of a child; the education that children receive at the first
time is more dependent on the education that his or her parents received when they
are children. Therefore, parents’ background knowledge and education are important
in providing an adequate education to their child. This is supported by Purwanto
(2009) wherein he describes family background as one of the factors influencing a
student to partake in a saving behavior. Next are the friends, having a number of 145
votes and ranked as third greatest influencer among the four factors. According to
some research, aside from families and schools, friends and peers can also affect
one’s saving behavior in positive ways. Noor Zaihan (2016) found out in his research
that despite the fact that parents and guardians has helped their children form
positive financial behavior, peer socialization angle also exist in one's saving
behavior since saving behavior of students could be influenced by friends in
spending exercises during social time and exchanging ideas about financial
management matters among their peers. Lastly are the teachers, having a total of
157 students to vote it as the least influencer among the four factors. With this, it
implies that students can learn more at home by their parents than at school by their
teachers.
4.3.2.2. Debt Management Habits
Figures 18-21 revealed the factors that influence the debt management habits
of Xavier University Senior High School students, which are personal, family/parents,
friends, and school/teachers. It was found out that the students’ personal influence
has the greatest influence the way they manage their debts, which comprises of 156
students of the total sample size. It is mainly because they already have the
knowledge about the importance of carefully handling one’s personal finance that
would not lead into indebtedness. As Opoku (2015) have mentioned that students’
age influences there borrowing knowledge, just like how the respondents of this
study were mostly minors and were considered to have good debt management
habits. It was proven also from the results of the students’ level of financial literacy
that belonged to the moderately high level. Moreover, family influence was ranked as
the second that greatly influence most of the students, composing of 137
respondents from the sample size, while 148 students ranked their friends as the
third greatest, and 146 of them ranked the school/teachers as the least influencers to
them.
4.3.2.3. Spending Habits
Figures 22-25 shows Xavier University Senior High School students’
spending habits influenced by their personal choice, family, friends, and teachers.
Among the four factors, personal choice ranked as the highest influence having 191
students to vote it as their greatest influencer. This entails that students are careful
enough in their purchasing decision whether it is a need or a want. It was mentioned
by Atri (2012) in the study of Spending & Saving habits of Youth in the City of Indore,
Bauddhik that as an individual matures, he/she relies more on evaluating the
service/product’s features and characteristics considering that the influences coming
from friends and family decreases. This tells that individuals make independent and
careful decision regarding their spending behavior. The second in rank that influence
the student’s spending habit are the teachers and the school community as selected
by 161 respondents. It can be that the teachers and the school has taught the
students how to spend their money wisely. Some research says that the better the
school environment is, the better the students' ability to control themselves towards
their financial spending behavior. The third in rank that influence the spending habits
of the students are their friends having 136 votes from the students. It is ranked as
second to the last since individuals tend to set aside their spending decision wherein,
they often purchase material things when they are with their peers. This is evident
based from the concept of Birari and Patil (2014) in the study of Spending and
Saving Habits of Youth in the City of Aurangabad which states that youth spends the
portion of their money more on shopping and lifestyle as they are influenced by the
society. The least in rank that influence the spending habits of the students are their
family which comes from the decision among the 33 respondents. For this reason, it
is being said that there is a growing issue with the family in regards to the spending
habits of their children because of the lack of quality time together. There is a lesser
involvement of the parents with the behavior of their children in regards to their
behavior whether it may be in their lifestyle or spending behavior.
4.3.3. Discussion on the Results of the Significant Difference between the
Students’ Level of Financial Literacy and their Age, Gender, Strand, and Type
of Residence
4.3.3.1. Age
The results of the t-test showed that there is a significant difference between
the means of students who were below 18 years old and 18 and above years old.
This implies that the level of financial literacy of the students vary when grouped
according to age. Students below 18 years old had a higher level of financial literacy
of 2.95 compared to the students whose ages are 18 years old and above having a
mean of 2.83. Even though both age ranges fall under the moderately high level of
financial literacy, the results reveal that students below 18 years old are more
financially literate since 33% of them have a greater amount of allowance ranging
from Php 500-1000 in a week compared to those students who are 18 years old and
above where 37% of them have least amount of allowance ranging from Php 300
and below. In terms of their saving, students below 18 years old are more likely to
save an amount ranging from Php 51-150 while students who are 18 years old and
above mostly save an amount ranging from Php 50 and below. According to Averia,
Balsa, and Balce, Bernardo, Calipay, Cantonjos et al. (2018), the lower the
allowance an individual has, the more difficult it is to allot the money to cover up their
needs in their day to day activities. This is applicable to students who are 18 years
old and above. This then affects their behavior which led them to being inferior
compared to the level of financial literacy of studens who are below 18 years old.
4.3.3.2. Gender
The results of the t-test revealed that there is a significant difference between
the sample means of male and female students of Xavier University Senior High
School. As an outcome, the level of financial literacy between male and female
students vary significantly, in which male students has a mean of 2.89 and female
students has 2.77. Even though both of them are in moderately high level of financial
literacy, it was found out that male students were more financially literate than
female. Lusardi and Mitchell (2011) found out that there were gender differences in
financial decision-making, which entailed that men are typically more financially
literate than women. Males students tend to have more understanding and ability to
apply financial concepts in their financial decision compare to female students, which
reflect to the way they handle their personal finances based on their budgeting,
saving, debt management, and spending habits.
4.3.3.3. Strand
The results of the t-test showed that there is no significant difference between
the means of ABM students and non-ABM students. This reveals that even though
ABM students were more exposed to financial education because of having
undergone core business subjects, it does not mean to say that their knowledge on
these particular subjects gave them gap between those students under GA, STEM,
and HUMSS strand who were not that exposed to finance since they are more
focused in their strand’s specialization. This result supports the claim of Hilgert and
Hogarth (2003) which stated that the level of financial literacy of the students is not
directly determined on their financial knowledge. What matters most is how these
students apply their knowledge in everyday situations in which they deal with their
financial resources.
4.3.3.4. Type of Residence
The outcome of the t-test in identifying the difference between students who
live with their parents and those students who live away from their parents implies
that they do not differ significantly, since there were not enough evidences that could
prove the variation of the two. However, the result of the difference between the two
types of accommodation in this study is different from previous researches. It
indicates that the students’ level of financial literacy in terms of their budgeting,
saving, debt management, and spending habits do not vary depending on the type of
their accommodation. Hence, Ergun (2017) mentioned that in the recent years,
environmental and technological influences must be taken into consideration in
assessing the students’ level of financial literacy because they may be more
essential regardless of whether they are living with their parents or living away from
them.
4.3.4. Discussion on the Results of the Students’ Overall Level of Financial
Literacy
As Hilgert and Hogarth (2003) claimed, the level of an individual’s financial
knowledge is not enough to assess their level of financial literacy. As stated by
Montalbo, Pogoy, Villarante, and Pepito (2018), financial literacy is the
understanding about financial concepts wherein applying this knowledge will help
improve the effectiveness of decision making in terms of financial situations. In
connection to this, Jayantilal (2017) mentioned that attitude towards personal finance
management which includes the budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending
habits affect the individual’s financial literacy. With this, the level of financial behavior
measured through the four independent variables which are the budgeting, saving,
debt management, and spending habits is assessed in order to determine the
respondents level of financial literacy.
Based on the results of the average mean of the variables, 7.2% of the
sample size comprising a number of 23 students have been levelled as having a
high level of financial literacy. This showed that these students were able to apply in
their daily experiences the knowledge they have gained in financial related matters
which they learned from their family, friends, and teachers/school. On the other
hand, 76.7% of the sample size comprising 246 students were levelled as having a
moderately high level of financial literacy. This indicates that these students had a
good performance with regards to dealing with their financial resources. They were
able to practice behaviors in budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending
that led them to becoming responsible individuals in terms of handling their money
but it must be noted that there their behaviors were not applied to a greater extent.
Lastly, 16.2% of the sample size having 52 students were considered to be having a
slightly low level in financial literacy. This reveals that, at some point, they were not
able to apply effectively their financial knowledge in their day to day dealings
involving money.
Overall, the Xavier University senior high school students, in general, are
identified as having a moderately high level of financial literacy based from the level
of their financial behavior which also reveals that it is moderately high.

CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The following chapter focuses on the generalizations, deductions, and
inferences that were obtained from the gathered and analyzed data. This part of the
paper presents the summary, findings and implications of the study.
Recommendations for further research are also included in this section.
5. Conclusion
5.1. Summary
In assessing the level of financial literacy of Xavier University Senior High
School students based financial behavior such as budgeting, saving, debt
management, and spending, the demographic profile of the students has been also
identified to provide a background about them. The students’ demographic profile
includes age, gender, strand, and type of residence was used as basis in finding out
the difference of the level of financial literacy between 18 years old below and 18
years old and above, male and female, Accountancy and Business Management
(ABM) and Non-ABM strands, and students who are living with their parents and
students living away from them. In terms of age, 206 students are 18 years old below
and 115 are 18 years and above. For the gender, there are 131 male students and
190 female students. Based on strand, 80 students were enrolled in ABM and 241 of
the students came from General Academic (GA), Humanities and Social Sciences
(HUMSS), and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Moreover, in
the type of residence, 228 students are living together with their parents and 93 are
living away from them.

This study mainly assessed the students’ level of financial literacy through
their budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending behavior with the use of
survey questionnaire. Four levels of financial literacy were utilized namely, low,
ranging from the mean of 1-1.75, slightly low from 1.76-2.50, moderately high from
2.51-3.25, and high level from 3.26-4.00. Hence, in all variables, such as budgeting,
saving, debt management, and spending habits, students showed that they are
moderately high in financial literacy. Based on their corresponding standard
deviation, only budgeting habits showed a significant impact in determining the
senior high school students’ level of financial literacy.Overall, the researchers found
out that Xavier University Senior High School students were moderately high in
terms of financial literacy which also reveals having good financial behaviors.
Aside from the four financial behaviors, the researchers have discovered the
four most influential factors that shaped the way students perform their budgeting,
saving, debt management, and spending habits, which also have an impact in
assessing the students’ level of financial literacy. These factors are their personal
choice, parents or family, friends, and teachers or school. Thus, personal choice had
the greatest influence to the senior high school students among the four factors and
their teacher or school being the least influencer.
In addition, with the use of t-test as an inferential statistics, researchers also
found out that there were significant differences in the level of financial literacy
between the two classifications of the students’ age and gender. Students who are
18 years old below were more financially literate than 18 years and above, and male
exceeded as well in their financial behaviors compared to female students. However,
between the two classifications of the students’ strand and type of residence, the
results did not show any significant variation in the level of financial literacy between
students who live with their parents and students who live away from them, as well
as the students who are from ABM and Non-ABM strands.
5.2. Conclusion
This study sought to assess the financial literacy level of the Xavier University
Senior High School Students through their habits of budgeting, saving, debt
management and spending. The said respondents were taken from both grade 11
and grade 12 students from the four academic strands namely, ABM, STEM,
HUMSS and GAS. Most of the respondents have an age of 18 years old and below,
and they are mostly female. It was also shown that most of them are living with their
parents, while the others are currently living on their own in their boarding houses,
dormitories and relatives. The resultgoes to show that in terms of their financial
behavior, they were able to get a moderately high-level measure since they were
able to show good attitude and behavior in money management. With this result from
the respondents’ behavior, it shows a positive effect towards their financial literacy
level, having to acquire a moderately high level of financial behavior, they have also
acquired moderately high level of financial literacy. Furthermore, it was shown that
among the several factors affecting the respondents’ financial habits, their personal
choice is what drives them to have such behavior in terms of handling money, in
other words, they have their fair share of knowledge about how to handle and
allocate financial resources properly. According to Hilgert and Hogarth (2003),
financial knowledge is not the only indication for a person to be financially literate, it
goes with the act of applying that knowledge into actions and be used in making
decisions related to money matters. With this being said, the findings indicate that
the respondents were able to properly apply their knowledge of money management
well into their daily lives making them acquire the said level of financial literacy. The
researchers also take into consideration whether or not the demographic profile of
the respondents affects their financial behavior, and it goes to show that their age
and their gender have a significant effect to how they behave in accordance to their
financial knowledge.
Implications
The study and research on the level of financial literacy of Xavier University
Senior High School students and its correlated factors that helped students to
understand money management has shown that majority of the students are in
moderately high level in financial literacy, thus, this indicates that although the
students already acquire knowledge of money management, they still have several
points to learn in order to reach the high level of financial literacy.
In this manner, the research has several implications to address to the factors
that influenced the students’ financial behaviour that would help improve their level of
financial literacy. Results suggest that factors around the student such as the
parents, teachers, and friends should be given awareness that they carry a big part
of influencing a child/friend towards his/her financial literacy and financial behaviour.
It would be favorable if parents would be informed about this study and this matter,
as well as the schools and teachers to be given the responsibility to look out for the
students’ behavior towards money since these factors are usually levelled as the
least influencer particularly in budgeting, debt management and spending habits.
Furthermore, since students nowadays are being tempted into making impulsive
decisions, peers and friends are encouraged to understand carefully financial literacy
in spending habits to be able to influence their friends in good ways.

The implication of the findings is a necessity for the development of the
students to learn how to manage their financial resources. With this, it would help
them to better understand its importance and for them to apply the knowledge
acquired in every financial decision there is to make.
5.3. Limitations
One of the significant contributions of this study is the identification of the four
independent variables namely saving, debt management, budgeting, and spending.
with this being explained in the study, the researchers were able to assess Xavier
University-Senior High School student’s financial literacy. Having 321 respondents,
the researchers were able to identify that the level of the student’s financial literacy is
moderately high. Also, the study further utilizes different literature review so as to
support and serves as the backbone of the study and its findings. However, there are
limitations identified which limits the generalisability of the research results and these
are the following:
● Some respondents might have misinterpreted some items in the survey
questionnaire. This is due to different levels of understanding of the students
in answering the questions who differ in age, gender, strand and their type of
residency.
● There is a difficulty in obtaining the data collection because some
respondents were hard to reach wherein researchers had to make special
follow ups and remind the respondents regarding the finished survey. This
hinders the time schedule of the respondents in fully finishing the timeframe
for data collection.

● Technical Vocation Livelihood strand is not included to be part of the study
due to the inaccessbility to locate and have communication with them. This
may contribute to widen the scope for the future studies.
● The survey questionnaire is limited to a four-point Likert Scale in the form of
answering each survey questions. This is to ascertain the student’s
understanding towards their financial literacy without being biased and being
neutral to their answers.
5.4. Recommendations
For future studies, there is a need to broaden the scope to involve other
factors relevant to determining the level of financial literacy of the students.
Reviewed literature did not only reveal budgeting, saving, debt management, and
spending habits as the determinants of financial literacy but also includes the
knowledge on financial concepts, demographic profile, work and money
management experiences, and educational background of the chosen respondents
to further validate the results of the study. In addition, future researchers should
further investigate the relationship between these factors and level of financial
literacy of the students. The assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the
finance-related subjects undertaken by the ABM students to the level of financial
literacy should also be identified in order to evaluate how it affects the behavior of
the students towards personal finance.
Based from the results and implications, the researchers would also like to
emphasize practical recommendations in order to improve the students’ level of
financial literacy for the institution to ensure senior high school students to boost
their level of financial literacy as they prepare themselves to college life which is
seen to be more financially challenging. With this, the researchers propose to the
administration to implement financial literacy programs or financial education
seminars/workshops. Through this, students will have a better understanding on the
different behaviors towards finances as well as raising awareness on the practical
ways to put into application their financial knowledge. The topics should include
basic concepts of financial literacy and its importance, personal finance, and
managing resources. For the parents, they will need to give their utmost support to
the school with regards to the financial literacy programs that will be attended by
their children. In addition, the institution should also participate in the financial
literacy week through having this kind of event in the campus. This is to give the
students an avenue where they will be able to appreciate the importance of financial
literacy, widen their perspective and knowledge on financial matters. Furthermore,
parents should also take into consideration the results of this research and maintain
the kind of monitoring they perform with their children as to how their financial
resources should be managed. They should give significance to their roles in the
financial socialization of their children to have a positive impact on their children’s
behavior. Lastly, the researhers recommend to the parents to encourage their
children to join cooperatives since this will also one of the avenues that will enhance
the financial well being of an individual.

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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: Questionnaire
Name (Optional): __________________ Type of Residence (please check the

Age:_______ box that corresponds to your answer):
Gender:_____ ⏯ living with parents
Strand:_____________ ⏯ living away from parents (dormitiories,
boarding house, pad, etc.)
Direction: Using the Likert Scale below, put a check mark in the box that best
represent the degree of your agreement on each statement.
Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly
Agree
Disagree
1. When I receive money, I always plan
on how it will be used.
2. I always stick to the plan I make for
using the money.
3. When I budget my money, I always
consider the amount, time period, and
the prices of the products and services.
4. I budget my money through making
written record instead of doing it
mentally.
5. I am disciplined when it comes to
managing money.
6. I like saving rather than spending

money.
7. I try to save money for the future and
unexpected expenses.
8. I like to save money regularly, even if
it is only a little.
9. I save a portion of my pocket money
at home or in the bank.
10. I spend my pocket money fully.
11. I spend money on the everyday
needs and save the rest.
12. I save money to be independent and
reduce asking money from my parents.
13. I plan out the things that I will buy to
be able to know how much will be left.
14. I save because I believe that it is
important.
15. I pay my debts on time.
16. I regularly use credit or borrow
money to buy food or pay other
necessary fees/contributions in school.
17. Borrowing money very often would

lead me to experience indebtedness.
18. I borrow money from my relatives,
classmates or friends whenever I run out
of money from my allowance.
19. If I lost my main source of allowance,
I could promptly recover my school
expenses without borrowing any money.
20. It is more satisfying to spend money
than to save it for other purposes.
21. I personally buy things that are not
necessary even though I know I can’t
afford them.
22. I keep close personal watch on my
financial affairs especially in my
spending decisions
23. I consider the price of several
products from different stores before
making the decision to purchase it.
24. I become an impulsive and
indecisive buyer when I let my emotions
control me rather than staying in my
principle to save.
Direction: For items 1-2, encircle the answer of your choice.
1. How much is your weekly allowance?
a. 300 and below
b. 301 to 500
c. 501 to 1000
d. 1001 and above
2. How much do you save from your weekly allowance?
a. 50 and below
b. 51 to 150
c. 151 to 250
d. 251 and above
Direction: For items 3-6, rate the factors that influence on your
budgeting/saving/debt management/spending
habits (1 being the least and 4 being the greatest).
3. Budgeting Habits
_Personal Choice
_Family
_Friends/Classmates/Boyfriend/Girlfriend
_Teacher/School
4. Saving Habits
_Personal Choice
_Family
_Teacher/School
1. Debt Management Habits
_Personal Choice
_Family
_Teacher/School
2. Spending Habits
_Personal Choice
_Family
_Teacher/Scho
APPENDIX B: Letter Consent Form
RESEARCH SUBJECT INFORMED CONSENT FORM – STUDENT
PARTICIPANTS
To the prospective research subject: Read this consent form carefully and ask as many questions as
you like before you decide whether you want to participate in this study or not. You are also free to
ask questions any time before, during, or after your participation in this research.
Project Information
Project title: ASSESSING XAVIER UNIVERSITY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LEVEL OF
FINANCIAL LITERACY THROUGH THEIR BUDGETING, SAVING, DEBT MANAGEMENT, AND
SPENDING HABITS
Principal Investigators:
Bacas, Jagimae D.
Baclaan, Jessa Mae B.
Bayla, Edwin John O.
Guerrero, Fiona Francheska K.
Hanasan, Marybeth O.
Lagare, Zyla Maureen P.
Tolod, Cheska Lou L.

1. PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH STUDY
You are being asked to participate in a research study that strives to assess
the level of financial literacy among Xavier University Senior High School
students as their budgeting, saving, debt management, and spending habits
would become its basis. The study aims to help the university to determine
how financially literate its senior high school students are, for them to know
what are the actions need to be taken. Financially literate students are those
who have enough knowledge and the capability to manage well their personal
finances, while financially illiterate students are those who failed to practice
good financial management in dealing with their daily allowances.
Precisely, this study aims to answer the following questions: (1) What is the
level of financial literacy of Xavier University Senior High School students in
terms of their budgeting, saving, debt management and spending habits? (2)
What are the factors that affect the respondents’ budgeting, saving, debt
management and spending habits? And (3) What are the differences of the
level of financial literacy of the respondents in terms of age, gender, strand,
and type of residence?
2. CONFIDENTIALITY
Your identity in this study will be treated with utmost confidentiality. The
results of the study and any other related data may be published for scientific
purposes, but your name will not be mentioned as well as any identifiable
references to you.
3. TERMINATION OF RESEARCH STUDY
You are free to choose whether or not to participate in this study. There will be
no penalty if you choose not to participate. You will be provided with any
significant findings developed during the course of this study that may relate
to or influence your willingness to continue participating. In the event that you
decided to discontinue your participation in the study, no amount shall be
given or charged to you.
4. AUTHORIZATION
I have read and understood this consent form, and I volunteer to participate in
this research study. I understand that I will receive a copy of this form. I
voluntarily choose to participate, but I understand that my consent does not
take away any legal rights in the case of negligence or other legal fault of
anyone who is involved in this study. I further understand that nothing in this
consent form is intended to replace any applicable laws.
_________________________________________
Student Participant’s Signature Over Printed Name
Date: _____________
_________________________________________
Principal Investigator’s Signature Over Printed Name
Date: ___________
APPENDIX C Cronbachs Alpha
APPENDIX D –Curriculum Vitae
NAME Jagimae D. Bacas
PERSONAL DATA
Nationality Filipino
Place of Birth Talakag, Bukidnon
Address Mindanao Homes Subdivision, Pagatpat
Cagayan de Oro City
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Senior High School Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan
Corrales Avenue, Cagayan de Oro City
Secondary St. Joseph High School of Talakag, Inc
Santiago St., Talakag Bukidnon
Primary Talakag Central Elementary School
Talakag, Bukidnon
111
NAME Jessa Mae B. Baclaan
PERSONAL DATA
Place of Birth Kalilangan, Bukidnon
Address Laserna Street, West Poblacion, Kalilangan,
Bukidnon
Secondary Kalilangan National High School
Kalilangan, Bukidnon
Primary Kalilangan Central Elementary School
Kalilangan, Bukidnon
112
NAME Edwin John O. Bayla
PERSONAL DATA
Place of Birth Cagayan de Oro City
Address Villanueva Compound,
Carmen, Cagayan de Oro
Senior High School Xavier University Senior High School
Corrales Avenue
9000 Cagayan de Oro
Secondary Cagayan de Oro College
Max Suniel St., Carmen
9000 Cagayan de Oro
Primary Cagayan de Oro College
Max Suniel St., Carmen
9000 Cagayan de Oro
113
NAME Fiona Francheska K. Guerrero
PERSONAL DATA
Address Phase 1, Area 2, Zone
9, Macanhan, Carmen,
Cagayan de Oro City
Senior High School Xavier University Senior High School
Corrales Avenue
9000 Cagayan de Oro
Secondary Xavier University Junior High School
Masterson Avenue, Pueblo de Oro
9000 Cagayan de Oro
Primary City Central School
Yacapin-Velez Street
9000 Cagayan de Oro
114
NAME Mary Beth O. Hanasan
PERSONAL DATA
Address Block 3, Lot 15, San Agustin Valley Homes,
Cagayan de Oro City
Senior High School Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan
Secondary St. Mary’s Academy of Carmen
Villarin St., Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City
Primary Montessori de Oro
Tiano Bros. Street, Cagayan de Oro City
115
NAME Zyla Maureen P. Lagare
PERSONAL DATA
Place of Birth Aurora,Zamboanga
del Sur
Address Poblacion, Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur
Secondary Santa Teresita Academy
Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur
Primary Santa Teresita Academy
Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur
116
NAME Cheska Lou L. Tolod
PERSONAL DATA
Address Morning Mist Village,
Pueblo de Oro
Secondary Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan
Masterson Avenue, Pueblo, Cagayan de Oro City
Primary Rosevale School
Xavier Estates Phase 4
117

ABM G12 Barcelon Senior High School Students Level of Financial Literacy

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ABM G12 Barcelon Senior High School Students Level of Financial Literacy

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ASSESSING XAVIER UNIVERSITY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LEVEL

OF FINANCIAL LITERACY THROUGH THEIR BUDGETING, SAVING, DEBT

CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

1.1. Background of the study 1-4

1.2. Research Gap 4-5

1.4. Research Questions 6-7

1.5. Significance of the Study 7-8

1.6. Scope and Delimitation 8-9

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1. Theories 10-14

2.2. Concepts 14-21

2.3. Theoretical Framework 21-23

2.4. Conceptual Framework 22-24

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.2. Context and Participants 25-27

3.3. Instruments 27-28

3.4. Data Gathering Procedure 28-30

3.5. Data Analysis 30-34

4.2.1. Demographic Profile 36-38

4.2.2. Student’s Level of Financial Literacy 38-40

4.2.3. Student’s Level of Financial Behavior 40-42

4.2.4. Factors that Greatly Influence the Respondent’s 43-53

Level ofFinancial Literacy

4.2.5. Significant Difference between the Students’ 53-60

Demographic Profile and their Level of Financial Literacy

4.3. Discussion of the Results 60-74

CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Conclusion 75-78

5.4. Recommendations 80-81

Table 1: Data Interpretation Scale for Financial Literacy 36

Table 2: Data Interpretation Scale for Financial Behavior 36

Table 3: Interpretation Table of the Level of Financial Literacy 39

Table 4: F-Test Results Between Senior High School Students 54

Who Are 18 Years Old Below and 18 Years Old Above

Table 5: F-Test Results Between Male and Female Senior High 54

Table 6: F-Test Results Between ABM and Non-ABM Senior High 55

Table 7: F-Test Results Between Senior High School Students 56

Living With and Living Away from Their Parents

Table 8: T-Test Results Between Senior High School Students 57

Who Are 18 Years Old Below and 18 Years Old Above

Table 9: T-Test Results Between Male and Female Senior High 58

Table 11: T-Test Results Between Senior High School Students 60

Living With and Living Away from Their Parents

Figure 1: Proportion of the Xavier University Senior High School 36

Figure 2: Proportion of the Xavier University Senior High School 36

Figure 3: Proportion of the Xavier University Senior High School 37

Figure 4: Proportion of the Xavier University Senior High School 38

Students’ Type of Residence

Figure 5: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Level of 39

Figure 6: Proportion of the Students’ Level of Financial Literacy in 40

Terms of Their Budgeting Habits

Figure 7: Proportion of the Students’ Level of Financial Literacy in 41

Terms of Their Saving Habits

Figure 8: Proportion of the Students’ Level of Financial Literacy in 41

Terms of Their Debt Management Habits

Figure 9: Proportion of the Students’ Level of Financial Literacy in 42

Terms of Their Spending Habits

Figure 10: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Personal 43

Influence on Their Budgeting Habits

Figure 11: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Family 44

Figure 12: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ Friends 44

Influence on Their Budgeting Habits

Figure 13: Xavier University Senior High School Students’ School/ 45