Abstract The objective of the present study is twofold. Firstly, it provides a diagnosis of the financial literacy and retirement planning of the adult population in Spain, offering a detailed description of its distribution across different social groups. Secondly, it evaluates the impact of financial literacy on the decisions made by Spaniards to ensure financial sufficiency in old age, specifically regarding the ownership of financial and non-financial assets for retirement and the subscription to private pension plans (ie, supplementary private pension schemes). The study employs microdata from the Encuesta de Competencias Financieras, a nationwide survey conducted by the Spanish National Central Bank and the Spanish Stock Exchange Commission. Particular attention is given to the potential endogeneity of financial literacy. To address this issue, the estimates are calculated using Lewbel's (2012) approach for dealing with endogenous predictors. Our results suggest that fostering basic financial education could empower individuals to manage their retirement more effectively. This is particularly relevant in countries such as Spain, where the sustainability of the public pension system currently represents one of the main challenges policymakers must tackle, given the relatively high intensity of the population's increasing life expectancy and the decline in fertility rates
Mancebón et al. (2026) studied this question.