From the Editor

This issue contains Issue 4 of Volume 25 of Financial Services Review (FSR). I would like
to thank the board and members of the Academy of Financial Services for their continued
support. I continue to work in broadening the scope of articles, while still focusing on individual
financial management and personal financial planning. I encourage authors to reach out when
discussing implications of their findings in a more comprehensive way. As such, all articles in the
Journal more appropriately relate to financial planning issues.

The lead article “Exploring the Demand for Retirement Planning Advice: The Role of
Financial Literacy” is coauthored by Martin C. Seay at Kansas State University, Kyoung Tae
Kim at University of Alabama, and Stuart J. Heckman at Kansas State University. The authors
extend previous research on the relationship between financial literacy and financial advice
seeking in three ways: (1) examine financial planner use specifically within the context of
retirement planning, (2) incorporate Huston’s (2010) framework of financial literacy, and (3) use
longitudinal data to investigate the initiation, maintenance, and termination of financial planner
use. They find that their results (from the 2010 and 2012 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
1979) show a positive association between the components of financial literacy and financial
planner use for retirement planning.

The second article “College student interest in personal finance education” is coauthored by
Christine Harrington and Walter Smith, both at Auburn University at Montgomery. The authors
investigate demand for investing in financial literacy while in college using survey responses
from a cross-section of students. Their results indicate that student interest in personal finance
education is largely a function of perceived return, time cost, financial independence, and gender
where female students have relatively more interest. Income, patience in consumption, credit
experience, and numerical ability. Their results support offering learning opportunities for
individual personal finance topics in addition to a personal finance course.

The third article, “Procedure to determine the optimal Roth IRA versus deductible IRA
allocation” is coauthored by Robert M. Hull at Washburn University and John B. Hull at
American Century Investment Services, Inc. The authors develop a procedure to guide the Roth
IRA versus deductible IRA (RVD) allocation decision. They find that a modest earning couple
can achieve a lifetime wealth gain amounting to about $180,000 in today’s dollars. Their models
allows changes in key variables such as salary match, adjusted gross income, portfolio returns,
and withdrawal years.

The fourth article, “Determining the Return-Maximizing Portfolio Leverage and its Limita-
tions” is coauthored by Robert A. Ott and Timothy E. Zimmer, both at University of Indianapolis.

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1057-0810/16/$ – see front matter © 2016 Academy of Financial Services. All rights reserved.



The authors hypothesize that leverage in the risk allocation of an investment portfolio can be an
effective strategy in achieving overall portfolio goals. Their research focuses on the limitations by
explicitly including the volatility drag from leveraging the expected portfolio returns. They show
that maximizing the expected portfolio returns with respect to leverage results in a return-
maximizing condition that balances the gains from leverage with the losses in the volatility drag.
They graphically illustrate the return-maximizing condition over a range of investment returns to
produce a return-maximizing leverage curve.

The final article, “Household Use of Financial Planners: Measurement Considerations for
Researchers” is coauthored by Stuart J. Heckman at Kansas State University, Martin C. Seay at
Kansas State University, Kyoung Tae Kim at University of Alabama, and Jodi C. Letkiewicz at
York University. Using the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board’s definition of financial
planning, the authors evaluate the validity of the measures of financial planner use in publicly
available datasets. The author’s review of Financial Services Review, Journal of Personal
Finance, Journal of Financial Planning, Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Journal
of Consumer Affairs, and Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning identified seven
datasets that were commonly used to investigate financial planner use. They find that of
these, the two most promising measures were found in the Survey of Consumer Finances
and the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (1979). This article critically evaluates
these measures and provides insights into the development of better measures of
financial planner use for the future.

Thanks to those who make the journal possible, especially the referees and contributing
authors. Over the past year, the following reviewers provided excellent reviews of the articles you
enjoyed within the pages of Financial Services Review. I would like to send a special thank you
to the many reviewers that have significantly contributed to the quality of our journal by
providing timely and thorough reviews of the submissions to our journal.

Yasser Alhenawi University of Evansville
Phil Baird Duquesne University
Anup Basu Australia
Lew Coopersmith Rider University
Brenda Cude University of Georgia
Gio Fernandez Stetson University
Greg Filbeck Penn State University
Philip Gharghori Monash University
Angelica Gonzalez United Kingdom
John Grable University of Georgia
Suzanne Gradisher Akron University
Vickie Hampton Texas Tech University
Andrea Hershatter Emory
Dieter Hess University of Colgne
Matthew Hurst Stetson University
David Hunter University of Hawaii
Richard Kish Lehigh University
Van Son Lai Universite Laval
KC Ma Stetson University
Charles Larkin Trinity College Dublin
Camilla Mazzoli Università Politecnica
David Michayluk Australia

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Please consider submission to the Financial Services Review and rely on the style
information provided to ease readability and streamline the review process. The Journal
welcomes articles over the range of areas that comprise personal financial planning. While
FSR articles are certainly diverse in terms of topic, data, and method, they are focused in
terms of motivation. FSR exists to produce research that addresses issues that matter to
individuals. I remain committed to the goal of making Financial Services Review the best
academic journal in individual financial management and personal financial planning.

Best regards,
Stuart Michelson

Editor Financial Services Review

David Nanigian CSU Fullerton
David North University of Richmond
Barbera O’Neill Rutgers
Wade Pfau The American College
Kenneth Ryack Quinnipiac University
Kathyrn Simms Old Dominion University
Sandeep Singh Brockport University
Jerry Stevens University of Richmond
Gene Stout Central Michigan
Dante Suarez Trinity College
Ning Tang San Diego State University
Barton Waring BartonWaring

viiEditorial / Financial Services Review 25 (2016) v–vii