“Am I being responsible?”: Navigating coming-of-age transitions through personal financial information management
Abstract
This research explored how young adults (ages 18–25) learn to use financial records and the roles financial records play in their experiences in coming to see themselves as financially mature social actors. The contribution of this paper is a revised model of transitions theory that includes personal information management (PIM) as an information behavior that helps people navigate life changes. Data collected during 23 guided tours was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, guided by transitions theory. The unifying theme was acting and becoming a “financially responsible” adult. Four themes captured different elements of this process: (1) changes generate financial identity exploration and awareness of new information needs and responsibilities; (2) young adults use financial recordkeeping to see, evaluate, modify, and therefore know the financial self; (3) human and societal factors as mediators and initiators of financial recordkeeping; and (4) construction of provisional adult identities. This study highlights social functions of financial records and value generated by inclusion of personal financial information management (PFIM) as a way to understand information behavior and coming of age transitions.
1 INTRODUCTION
“Both the practice and study of the activities a person performs in order to acquire or create, store, organize, maintain, retrieve, use, and distribute the information needed to meet life's many goals (everyday and long-term, work-related and not) and to fulfill life's many roles and responsibilities (as parent, spouse, friend, employee, member of community, etc.).” (Jones, 2008, p. 5)
Personal information provides a tangible means for managing intangible precious resources including time and attention (Jones, 2008). Personal financial information management (PFIM) is an everyday information practice that enables people to manage both themselves and their monetary resources. “Information practices,” an umbrella concept that uses a social constructionist paradigm, emphasizes the concrete and situated activities with human and document sources of information that become stabilized as routines in peoples' day-to-day lives (Palmer & Neumann, 2002). Within the context of personal finance, everyday information practices include collecting and organizing receipts, verifying transaction details in statements, and checking bank account balances. Careful management of personal financial records is important for taking advantage of financial opportunities like tax credits as well as to maintain one's financial privacy (Douglas, 2015). As a form of information work, the labor of personal information management including time, effort, resources, and outcomes of information activities (Hogan & Palmer, 2005), and the multifaceted roles PFIM plays in managing ourselves and our financial relationships with others is largely underappreciated by both financial and information professionals (Cushing et al., 2023), thus making PFIM a form of invisible information work (Dalmer & Huvila, 2019). This remains the case despite its importance as a source of evidence about the transactions and activities of individuals and organizations (Lemieux, 2010).
The general invisibility of records management as an essential part of everyday financial management has implications for how youth are taught everyday financial practices as part of a coming-of-age transition. Existing works investigating youth transitions in PIM research focus mainly on adjustment to post-secondary educational settings and the impact of information management practices on university learning outcomes (e.g., Alon & Nachmias, 2019; Hardof-Jaffe & Nachmias, 2011; Jacques & Fastrez, 2014; Majid et al., 2013; Otopah & Dadzie, 2013; Stewart & Basic, 2014; Stewart et al., 2012). Such works have yet to examine the role of PIM in navigating changes that co-occur with the transition to college, such as moving to a new geographic region, taking on new financial obligations like student debt, and starting to work within one's chosen profession. Little is known about how personal financial records help young adults assume greater personal responsibility for themselves as financial actors in the coming-of-age process and how their financial recordkeeping practices change as an outcome of these transitions. More recently, Van Alstyne (2022, 2023) explored differences in PIM strategies between middle and upper school students, arguing PIM practices evolve alongside other cognitive strategies as a consequence of psycho-social developmental changes. As such, the study of youth PFIM expands our understanding of how PIM helps people adapt to new life contexts and the ways in which their information practices change in response to change. Therefore, this paper aims to address these gaps and reports the findings of a series of guided tours with young adults about their experiences learning to manage financial records and the various roles those records play in coming to recognize themselves as financially competent independent adults.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Coming of age as a social and developmental transition
The concept of coming of age describes the transition from childhood to adulthood and the change in social role, rights, and responsibilities (Hall, 1904; Mead, 1928; van Gennep, 1960). As a social practice, coming of age is not associated with a particular biological or numeric age and there is a high degree of variability in how the transition is understood and institutionalized across cultures, such as when youth obtain their first employment, form romantic partnerships, take on debt, or take responsibility for personal financial expenses. Taking place roughly between the ages of 18 to 25, the theory of emerging adulthood identifies five common features in the coming of age experience: (1) exploration of identity; (2) residential and geographic instability; (3) reduced social expectations and responsibilities allowing for self-focus on engaging the transition process; (4) liminality as awareness of the transitory process and feeling in-between life stages; and (5) enhanced optimism towards future possibilities (Arnett, 2000, 2006). Arnett (2000) notes that financial independence from parents—and therefore being financially responsible for oneself—is among the top three goals of young adults undergoing transition and a potent symbol of successful completion of coming of age in industrialized Western societies. Arnett's work provides a theoretical roadmap for conceptualizing the coming-of-age experience and the ways in which the development of financial skills and practices are embedded within this journey for many young adults.
2.2 Emerging adulthood as a period of financial exploration and uncertainty
Related works have explored how emerging adulthood is a period of exploration and reduction of uncertainty about money management practices as young adults construct and revise their financial identities (Vosylis et al., 2022). Financial and employment information are among the most requested resources sought by socioeconomically disadvantaged and disengaged youth (16–19) in preparation for living independently (Buchanan & Tuckerman, 2016). During post-secondary studies, young adults are first exposed to new financial stresses including the rising costs of housing, high-cost of tuition, and limited access to financial resources from parents and financial institutions resulting in experiences of financial vulnerability (Mary, 2014; Terriquez & Gurantz, 2015). Young adults emulate the financial behaviors of their parents, emphasizing the home as an important context of financial socialization and PIM learning (Damian et al., 2020; Lanz et al., 2020). Financial distress in the home reduces young adults' overall life satisfaction and trust in parents as authoritative sources of financial know-how (Allsop et al., 2021). Successful management of finances during post-secondary education (e.g., tracking expenses, controlling spending, and saving money) positively correlates with academic performance and overall life satisfaction among college students, highlighting PIM as a transferable skill and source of resilience during emerging adulthood (Xiao et al., 2009). Existing literature on youth financial literacy has yet to explicitly explore the socialization of financial recordkeeping practices and the role of financial recordkeeping has in youth resilience and financial independence.
2.3 Financial transitions in human–computer interactions research
Existing explorations of personal finance in the area of human–computer interactions (HCI) provide some insight into how people use financial technologies during transitions. Kaye et al. (2014) interviewed adults (aged 20–69) about their use of information technologies to manage personal finances. Their sample included several people undergoing life transitions including recent graduation from university, coping after the loss of a job, bereavement after the death of a parent or partner, retirement, and people undergoing various forms of temporary financial hardship. Limited adoption of digital tools for managing personal financial practices left researchers with the impression that, “the most common tool that people used to keep track of the overall state of their finances was nothing at all” (Kaye et al., 2014, p. 526). The researchers also noted how use of “balance checking” on banking apps and websites, where financial data provided participants with transitory, ephemeral, and reassuring “financial touches” as “occasional glimpses at the complex whole, rather than a concerted and coherent overview of their entire [financial] situation…,” satisfied affective dimensions in personal finance such as managing anxiety and stress (Kaye et al., 2012, pp. 523–526). Yet, the vast array of paper and digital documents such as spreadsheets, spending logs, and planners that people used to make sense of their personal finances and resolve experiences of financial uncertainty during life transitions more broadly remains an underappreciated and underexplored topic in the literature.
Separately, in a study of older adults' experiences with online banking, Vines et al. (2012) found that tangible monetary artifacts (e.g., bank notes, cheques, and financial records) were essential tools for tracking of day-to-day finances, asserting financial autonomy, and remaining active participants within one's family and local community. Societal transition towards digital payments systems undermines many tactile, visual, countable, hideable, portable, and transferable qualities of tangible monetary artifacts (Vines et al., 2012), which has unintended consequences for older adults such as increasing dependency on caregivers to complete everyday financial tasks and elevated risk of financial abuse. These findings show how tangible monetary artifacts can help people navigate various aging-related transitions, including young adults, who are arguably in the earliest stages of their development as financial actors and may experience cumulative benefit from early interventions in recordkeeping education.
2.4 Personal information management during transitions
Life transitions are rarely the explicit focus of personal information management (PIM) research but there are several examples where periods of change are used as case studies to further our understanding of the information management challenges and burdens experienced by caregivers. Whittaker and Hirschberg (2001) argue that new employees may be more susceptible to the disruptive effects of relocation in workplaces resulting in greater reliance upon senior colleagues to keep and manage information during periods of change. Parents as caregivers experience heightened recordkeeping responsibilities around moments of transition in their children's lives (e.g., birth, school, puberty, illness) emphasizing opportunities to to reduce associated caregiver stresses by preparing those about to undergo change with enhanced PIM knowledge and practices (Cushing & Kerrigan, 2022; Gibson & Martin, 2019). These challenges are amplified when caregivers experience limited technological and human recordkeeping support in the home due to structural factors that ignore the value generated by non-professional recordkeeping practices (Moen & Brennan, 2005; Piras & Zanutto, 2010). Alon (2023) found that information seeking and information management support were intertwined needs for new academic faculty who relied on established faculty to support them through career transitions (pp. 8–9). Across cases, PIM is both a source of challenge and an adaptive response to changes in everyday life but the usefulness of PIM as a tool while navigating change has not been fully examined warranting further investigations using theories of transitions. Additional research exploring the needs and experiences of people undergoing transitions can enhance our understanding of PIM, including PFIM, as a form of care for the self and others (Cushing, 2023).
2.5 PIM as a gap in information behavior theories of transition
To date, information behavior theories of transition do not address PIM as a strategy for navigating change. Ruthven (2022) conceptualizes transitions as phases of understanding, negotiating, and resolving in which information is sought and used to respond to disruptive life events, reconfigures identity, and reconstructs information landscapes without situating information management in the transitions process. While adapting Meleis et al.'s (2000) theory of transitions, Willson (2019) focused information seeking, sharing, and use during academic career transitions without exploring information management as an additional dimension of information behavior for navigating change. Hicks (2019) theorizes navigation of transitions as learning to mitigate reputational risks through simultaneous acts of social calibrating and repositioning. Repositioning is achieved in part through the creation of personal archives that evidence one's transformation and credibility as a competent practitioner within a community of practice (Hicks, 2019). Use of personal archives as a resource during transitions warrants further investigation to better elucidate the functions of PIM as an adaptive response to change.
In summary, coming of age in a Western context has clearly defined stages and attainment of financial independence from parents is a major motivating goal and transitional outcome. Past research in the area of youth finance shows emerging adulthood as a critical period of financial socialization and financial identity construction but the role of PIM in supporting these processes remains unexplored. Related works in the PIM literature have leveraged transitional periods as contexts for studying information management practices but the functions of PIM on transitional outcomes is rarely the explicit focus of research resulting in a gap within the literature. Likewise, theoretical models of transitions in information studies focus on information seeking and use, with limited attention to information management as a strategy for navigating life transitions, highlighting the invisibility of PIM and the value it generates in periods of change. Therefore, the contribution of this research is a better understanding of the functions of PIM in transitions to support change and the ways in which PIM practices change in response to transitions. We achieve this by exploring financial coming of age as a case. We now turn to a discussion of the theoretical framework, aims, questions, and methods underpinning this investigation.
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Theoretical framework
Transitions is a growing area of theoretical interest in the field of information studies. Related works desire to improve our understanding of information seeking and use during transitions to provide better support to those undergoing change. This investigation builds upon Willson's (2019) adaptations to Meleis et al.'s (2000) model of transitions theory to better elucidate the functions of PIM in navigation of life transitions along with other information behaviors such as information scanning and seeking, which were found to be helpful for those undergoing change to construct new social identities while overcoming conditions of invisibility, marginalization, and precarity that characterize liminal states (Figure 1). Willson (2019) advocates for information researchers to approach the study of transitions with a holistic view by paying attention to “what aspects of life are called into question, what changes, what stays the same, what adaptations need to be made, and what defines the experience” (p. 853). Willson's adapted model of transitions theory was selected due to its emphasis on transitions as resolution of a liminal identity state, which has overlap with Arnett's (2000, 2006) conceptualization of emerging adulthood. Furthermore, identification of information management as a gap in Willson's (2019) adapted model pointed to a clear contribution for this research.
3.2 Research purpose, aims, and questions
The original purpose of this investigation was to explore the impacts of online banking apps and websites on young adult financial recordkeeping practices as part of the first author's (Ferguson, 2022) doctoral dissertation research. During initial inductive analysis of the data, a prominent narrative of transition was recognized. This publication presents a revised inductive analysis and new deductive analysis of the dataset to better understand the ways in which personal financial information management, as a dimension of information behavior, supports transitional processes. This paper addresses the following research questions:
RQ1.How do young adults learn to manage their personal financial information?
RQ2.How do young adults experience PFIM as part of the coming-of-age transition?
3.3 Recruitment and participants
After obtaining ethics approval, participants were recruited using classified ads posted to a university careers service's website, flyers posted on university bulletin boards, social media ads, and word of mouth. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to advertise the study and evaluate the suitability of prospective participants. Participants had to be: (1) young adults between the ages of 18 and 25; (2) with at least 6 months of part-time or full-time work experience; and (3) with at least one financial expense that they were uniquely responsible for managing (e.g., credit card or cellphone account). These criteria ensured participants fit within the targeted demographic age range and had direct personal experience with managing personal financial records. Additionally, participants could not be: (1) married or cohabitating with a romantic partner with whom they had combined finances to preserve the individual as the unit of analysis, or (2) a parent since they would be responsible for managing the financial documentation of a dependent. Twenty-three young adults aged 18–25 in Eastern Canada, 18 female and 5 male, participated in the guided tours. Roughly half (12) of participants were currently enrolled as undergraduate students, 9 were recent graduates, and 2 were graduate students. Almost all participants reported earning modest annual incomes with more than half (14) earning less than $10,000 CAD yearly. Around two-thirds (16) lived with roommates, while the rest lived alone (4) or with their parents (3). Participants were given researcher-assigned pseudonyms.
3.4 Data collection
The guided tour is a data collection technique that combines observation methods and semi-structured interviewing during a short but intentional interaction between a researcher and a research participant (Thomson, 2018, p. 515). During the tours, participants were asked to walk the researcher through the spaces in their homes where they worked with their collections of personal financial records, present examples of the documents they routinely used to manage personal finances, and to describe the kinds of financial tasks and workflows associated with those documents. The interviews were punctuated with predefined prompts to support participants with the overall structure for their guided tours covering eight topics: (1) a personal introduction with a an opportunity to reflect on their recordkeeping style and preferences; (2) an overview of their workspace and personal collection of financial records; (3) the organizational structure of their personal collections; (4) typical tasks and actions associated with their financial management; (5) strategies and techniques for re-finding information contained within their personal collections; (6) information seeking strategies and source preferences for learning how to manage personal finances and associated records; (7) a speculative period where participants were asked to reflect on PFIM challenges that could be better addressed through improved design of information technologies; and (8) a post-tour reflection period about their experience giving the tour and anticipated changes to their financial record management as a consequence. On average, guided tours were 40 min in duration, ranging from 18 to 105 min. Data collection continued until guided tours stopped generating new observations in terms of tools and techniques for managing financial records. Photographs of spaces within the home and example documents were taken to support the researcher's memory during the analysis phase since guided tours constituted a single interaction with participants.
3.5 Data analysis
Braun and Clarke's Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2019, 2021) was used to generate inductive themes from the guided tour data. As a social constructionist epistemology, RTA seeks to theorize how events, realities, meanings, and experiences are produced and reproduced through discourses within society (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2019). RTA was an appropriate methodology for the analysis of this dataset due to its emphasis on the critical analysis of the sociocultural context and structural conditions that shape participants' speech and activities rather than generating knowledge claims solely from the observable behaviors or participants' descriptions of their cognitive process (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2019). Following RTA's six recursive steps, the data collected was transcribed shortly after the completion of each guided tour. Prior to coding, the first author familiarized himself with the data by listening to the audio recordings, reading each transcript, and reviewing the photos and handwritten notes taken during each guided tour. Photographs and notes were used as a form of supplemental analysis to verify the researcher's memory and clarify conversation topics raised by participants (Feng & Agosto, 2019, p. 1356). Coding of the interview data took place in two phases. First the transcripts were coded inductively by identifying latent features within the text referencing how young adults developed their existing practices and reflections on how the development of financial records management practices are part of the coming-of-age experience. Then the inductive themes were then mapped deductively by two of the authors using a card sorting exercise with Willson's (2019) adapted model of transitions theory. The appropriateness of each placement was discussed and revised until consensus was reached. Deductive mapping helped organize and validate the inductive themes to ensure all stages of transitions theory were accounted for within the inductive analysis phase. Finally, a revised thematic map was drawn that articulated the relationships between the unifying concept, the inductive themes, and their sub themes thus completing the RTA process (Figure 2).
3.6 Limitations
The results of this investigation are limited to the Canadian context due to its recruitment. The findings may have limited applicability in other cultural contexts settings that structure educational, vocational, romantic, and residential transitions associated with adulthood differently. Furthermore, the recruitment strategy was particularly successful at reaching current and recent undergraduate students. Consequently, the findings do not represent PIM practices of those who pursue alternative educational paths (e.g., vocational colleges, skilled trades) nor those who choose not pursue post-secondary education due to systemic or socio-economic challenges. The guided tour protocol did not prompt participants about loans, savings, investments or other financial literacy topics, allowing participants instead to prioritize what aspects of personal finance were relevant to their tour. Lastly, this investigation did not collect demographic data on race, gender, sexuality, and ability. Therefore, differences based on minority or marginalized status in the North American context cannot be explored with the existing dataset despite the inclusion of both visible and sexual minorities within the sample.
4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Mapping of the inductively generated themes to Willson's (2019) adapted model of transitions theory showed a high level of concordance between the guided tour subthemes and theoretical understandings of transitions from the literature (Table 1). Through the mapping exercise, the authors became confident in their interpretation of the dataset and the appropriateness of including information management as an information behavior that supports navigation of life transitions to the adapted model. The following section further describes our findings and discusses their significance in relation to the existing literature.
| Transition component | Transition subcomponent | Inductive theme | Inductive subtheme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nature of transition | Types Patterns Properties |
Changes generate financial identity exploration and awareness of new information needs and responsibilities |
|
| Information need(s) |
|
||
| Transition conditions | Information management | Young adults use financial recordkeeping to see, evaluate, modify, and therefore know the financial self |
|
| Information seeking, sharing, and flow | |||
| Information use and comparison | |||
| Personal | Human and societal factors as mediators and initiators of financial recordkeeping |
|
|
| Community | |||
| Society | |||
| Patterns of response | Process indicators | Construction of provisional adult identities |
|
| Outcome indicators |
4.1 Changes generate financial identity exploration and awareness of new information needs and responsibilities
Participants experienced emerging adulthood as a time to assert financial independence from parents and discover their own financial agency. Associated changes in everyday life contexts created opportunities for financial identity exploration and generated awareness of new information needs. Gina, a second-year undergraduate student studying cognitive science, expressed this sentiment by saying, “I think it is important not to become so reliant on your parents and whatever as you get older. University is a time of exploration and financial exploration is important, which we forget about.” The theory of emerging adulthood emphasizes explorations around romantic orientations, career options, and religious affiliations as key conflicts to be resolved as part of differentiating oneself from parents “…that is, what their likes and dislikes are and what they want their daily lives to be like in adulthood” (Arnett, 2006, p. 8). The guided tours revealed how the emerging adulthood concept of identity exploration also encompasses notions of financial agency as a life context through which young adults explore who they are and who they wish to become as independent adults.
Our analysis identified two specific properties of the financial coming of age transition that generated new information needs and created the context for financial identity exploration: (1) new places of residence, and (2) new sources and forms of income, each of which introduced new financial responsibilities and required young adults to assume greater levels of financial independence.
Before, my mom would pay for everything when we would go out or like my parents would pay for it. Now that I am on my own, I want to keep a record of what I am spending money on just so that when I go back, I can be like, “oh, what did I spend so much money on?” and I would know.
Moving away from family homes embodied a shift in the financial relationships participants had with their parents, and necessitated higher levels of awareness about their day-to-day spending habits and financial obligations like rent or tuition. Residential moves and starting post-secondary education were examples of events that disrupt established roles (e.g., child, financially dependent), habitual information sources (e.g., parents), and familiar information landscapes (e.g., the home) associated with life before the coming-of-age transition, which necessitated development or changes in information behaviors to reestablish a sense of normality and mastery of life (Ruthven, 2022). Managing financial data became a valued technique for navigating new financial responsibilities and establishing oneself in a new residential arrangement. Simultaneously, financial tracking and planning activities, as main components of financial management, were experienced as vehicles for asserting new forms of independence from parents and growing to know oneself as a financial actor. Past work found the relational shift from being a financial dependence on parents to a financially independent adult was strongly associated with an emerging adult's global sense of life satisfaction (Xiao et al., 2009, p. 65). As such, transitional events were treated as important contexts for learning and practicing the financial and record management skills that participants would require as fully-formed adults. They were also sources of motivation for enhancing financial information literacy so that young adults could be seen by others, such as their parents, as financially competent individuals.
When my internship started, that is when I actually had to start paying for my own gas, paying for car repairs, paying for rent, and paying for food. So ever since then, I started keeping track of stuff because I was making money but I also wanted to budget it.
Dan credited his new and growing source of income with creating his awareness of two distinct new information needs: (1) needing to know his past financial behavior, and (2) needing to predict his future financial behaviors in order to achieve his financial goals. Tracking and planning were two of the main uses of personal financial records, which helped young adults navigate uncertainty that accompanied reduced levels of financial support from parents. Tracking and planning activities using financial data enabled young adults to recalibrate and reposition themselves as financial actors (Hicks, 2022), thus reducing experiences of uncertainty as they worked towards becoming recognized practitioners of adult financial management practices.
New employment was also an example of an event that generates dissonance between past and current identity in the form of new information needs and practices, and threats that people need to identify and confront to resolve their transition experiences (Ruthven, 2022). These properties were examples of what Meleis et al. (2000) refer to as critical points or events that mark the beginning of the transition process because they heightened participants' sense of financial vulnerability and presented new difficulties that eventually precipitated changes in information and financial behaviors. Changes in place of residence, the introduction of new financial expenses and responsibilities such as tuition or credit card balances, and access to new forms of income such as student loans, employment income, or university stipend were rites of passage (van Gennep, 1960), which marked the end of childhood financial dependency on parents and the beginning of a journey towards financial independence. Many participants described emerging adulthood as a period of scarcity, making financial records a valued tool for leveraging limited financial resources and reflecting Jones' (2008) assertion that personal information provides a tangible means for managing intangible dimensions of life. Collection and management of financial data that helped young adults cope with the multidimensional instability noted by Arnett (2000, 2006) as a defining characteristic of emerging adulthood. Next, we dive deeper into the new recordkeeping practices young adults developed during their transitions and the ways in which these activities contribute to their construction of provisional adult identities.
4.2 Young adults use financial recordkeeping to see, evaluate, modify, and therefore know the financial self
Personal financial data were used by participants to enhance self-awareness as financial actors and shape future financial behaviors that expressed their growing financial maturity. Jenny, a third-year economics student who moved across the country and lived alone in a small studio apartment, expressed this tension in her guided tour, “I try to save money where I can and be super careful about, you know, not spending lavishly or doing stupid things.” Jenny equated uncontrolled spending as a sign of financial immaturity and a lack of personal responsibility over financial conduct which was incompatible with her idea of being a financially mature adult. This was an example of how the mitigation of social risk and reputation management are motivating factors during the coming of age transition. Alex, a second year student originally from the USA, also described taking part in a monthly self-reflective practice during which calculated her spending and evaluated the appropriateness of her financial conduct, “I guess then comparing those expenses and then breaking down each category specifically of what you have spent in terms of big purchases and whether they are irresponsible or not.” Through interactions with personal financial data in documents like spending logs and spreadsheets or banking websites and apps, young adults calibrated their financial behaviors to bring their conduct into alignment with internalized ideas about what it means to be financially responsible, which in turn contributed to their social repositioning as practitioners of adult financial management practices in ways similar to those described among language learners (Hicks, 2019, 2022). Across guided tours, participants were highly critical of their spending habits and expressed a practical need to become restrained, disciplined, intentional consumers of financial resources as adults. Interactions with personal financial data in self-authored financial documents, banking apps, and websites enabled new forms of self-reflection and self-evaluation that allowed young adults to develop what Hicks (2022) refers to as historical self-consciousness about the state of their practice, which could be combined with feedback gathered through social comparisons with peers and social sources from parents to reposition their self-perception as financially responsible or not. Similar to Alon & Nachmias (2019) finding among people undergoing academic career transitions, reflexive exercises were important for augmenting self-awareness as learners and practitioners of new information practices.
A central information need expressed by participants was to know one's everyday spending. To address this need, financial self-tracking was one of the main functions of PFIM. Participants described routines of collecting and accessing personal financial data—through the creation of unique financial documents such as spending logs, or through online banking apps and websites—to track the financial self and render their financial conduct visible to themselves. Through interpretations of data, young adults developed understandings of their financial past and present situation, which were then applied to develop future plans and modify financial conduct. Lucy, an international student from New Zealand who moved to Canada to pursue graduate studies, described how self-tracking was an important technique for getting herself settled in her new home, “So when I arrived here, I worked out my budget and just blew that entirely and then sort of realized that I have a lot less money than I thought I would.” So then I was like, “I need to work out how much I am getting in a month.” Through data analysis, young adults engage in the transition process, bridge the gap between their understandings of their situations, accept the necessity of change, and develop processes for working out how to react (Ruthven, 2022, p. 587). Lucy's self-tracking was a direct response to the new understanding that resulted from failure of her past budgeting attempt and acceptance of the need to change her future financial behaviors. Use of personal financial data captured by banking apps and websites, or manually by young adults themselves using analogue tools like paper spending logs and diaries, enabled a form of financial quantification of the self (Swan, 2013). Feng and Agosto (2019) note how self-evaluation and sense-making become primary uses of self-tracking data in contexts where keeping and finding needs at the document or container-level are supported by data collection tools and technologies. As self-tracking becomes routined and certain aspects of data collection automated through integration of banking apps and websites, young adults described being able to use insights to modify their financial conduct to bring their behavior into alignment with their internalized perceptions of financial responsibility. Personal financial data managed and accessed by young adults was the raw resource to identify and mitigate financial risks associated with uncontrolled spending, supporting the centrality of risk management in Hick's (2019, 2022) theory of transitions.
So the fact that it's not like my parents are supporting me or something, I think it is important to know what I am spending things on. I think it just started out of curiosity to see how much I was spending on what because most people don't really know what they are spending their money on, which is embarrassing.
Social comparisons can be an important source of feedback that generates feelings of certainty about the appropriateness of one's response to change (Ruthven, 2022). Claire's social comparison contained many of the transitional elements described thus far: a relational shift with her parents that created new awareness of information needs and initiated her into the financial coming-of-age process. The transition also entailed the internalization of a new financial value system in which tracking serves not only the purpose of satisfying curiosities about one's spending habits but takes on new importance such as expressing financial competency that differentiates herself from other young adults who have not yet developed the same level of financial awareness and discipline. Comparisons are an important means for validating change and new identities (Hicks, 2019; Llyod & Hicks, 2022; Willson, 2019). In the context of personal finance, social comparisons make the transition visible to the self as well as others, which in turn creates the opportunity for social feedback (Hicks, 2022; Ruthven, 2022). In this case, Claire differentiates herself affectively from those she sees as financially immature by expressing embarrassment, highlighting the reputational risk that young adults seek to mitigate through their use of financial data to calibrate and reposition themselves.
Social comparisons were embedded within reflective practices, which had the potential to create productive dissonance that motivated change towards more idealized versions of the self. Across guided tours, participants described ways in which they applied the insights they gained from their personal financial data to change their spending habits. By changing financial conduct, young adults were able to move beyond simply acting in financially responsible ways to embodying the financial responsibility they associated with financial maturity. Arvy, a recent graduate who immigrated to Canada from India for university, credited the data he accessed through his online banking app as an important tool for helping him see his own financial irresponsibility, “I think it helped me realize how much I go out and it helped me cut down a lot of eating out.” Arvy was able to apply that insight to construct a plan that would enable him to regain a sense of control over his financial situation, “So I started with a lot of groceries at home and once and a while I do sushi, which is probably my only indulgence. Otherwise I was like fuck, I need to rein this shit in. Seriously!” Hicks (2022) describes transition as self-transformation from acting to becoming. The personal financial data that young adults managed enabled participants to modify their financial behaviors in ways that supported transition from simply acting in ways that reflected embodied ideals about financial responsibility towards transformation of the self into a more financially accountable version of themselves. The shock from making sense of his spending habits enabled Arvy to recalibrate in financial behavior and address risky financial behaviors that undermined his self-perception as a financially responsible person. The reflexive knowledge about the self as a financial actor that young adults generated through financial tracking and evaluation activities was complemented by the feedback sought from human sources within their interpersonal networks. The following section discusses the ways in which interpersonal information seeking contributed to the financial coming-of-age transition.
4.3 Human sources mediate perceived gaps in authoritative published sources and initiate young adults into financial recordkeeping practices
I would talk to friends because I think my friends are very informed, I would get their advice. And after, I think I would go—this happened once—I went to the website of the [financial] institution and it didn't give me much information. So I would go talk to the person at the institution to ask questions or I would call a representative of the person who provides the service.
Young adults described relying on familiar sources within their interpersonal network who were seen as having trustworthy financial knowledge and able to contextualize financial information to their specific circumstances. Representatives of financial and governmental institutions possessed a different form of knowledge that Anastasia could utilize to interpret the information she received online and navigate the complexities of financial processes in a new information landscape. This coincided with past research that highlights the preference of human sources as conduits of information that help people successfully adapt and self-transform (Hicks, 2019; Lloyd & Hicks, 2022; Willson, 2019).
So I constructed it before I left for first-year. I sat down with my parents and they were like ok, how much do you think is a reasonable amount to be spending on partying? And then we looked at my bank account and were like, “ok, this is what [you can spend], contingent upon you wanting to have savings in the bank account and you will be working in the summers.”
As sources of financial know-how, parents were able to translate their knowledge about how to create and how to use financial records effectively to assist young adults in their coming-of-age transitions, as a form of socialization of financial literacy (e.g., Allsop et al., 2021; Butterbaugh, Ross, & Campbell, 2020; Damian et al., 2020; Lanz et al., 2020; Terriquez & Gurantz, 2015; Vosylis et al., 2022). Mike's parents modeled how to think about personal finance while simultaneously teaching him how to construct and use financial documents to effectively manage himself as an increasingly independent financial actor. Young adults' reliance on parents as a source of financial know-how was consistent with past research that documents the importance of interpersonal sources during information transitions, who make socially acceptable practices visible and intelligible to the uninitiated (Hicks & Lloyd, 2016), supporting recommendations to expose learners to information management discourses, tools, and practices during periods of change to enhance literacy (Alon & Nachmias, 2019; Otopah & Dadzie, 2013).
An outcome of the financial coming-of-age experience is the development of personal recordkeeping styles that address the specific needs and contexts of young adults. Differentiation of personal financial recordkeeping practices from those of their parents was an important step in asserting their independence as financial actors, especially for young adults nearing the end of their coming-of-age processes. Rachel described inheriting a record keeping system from her father in preparation for living independently, “I moved out when I was 17 and my father put together, without my knowledge, this binder and told me that I needed to monitor my expenses.” However, she also experienced limits to the amount of financial knowledge that could be transferred from parent to child, “[I learned through] many conversations with my father and trial and error–years of trial and error and maybe discarding things I shouldn't have.” Past research also notes how PIM styles become adapted to one's particular information needs and environment as an outcome of learning experiences (Hardof-Jaffe & Nachmias, 2011; Whittaker & Hirschberg, 2001), highlighting information management practices as an outward expression of self-transformation. Rachel's described use of trial and error reflects Ruthven's (2022) identification of trial and error experimentation with information practices as a strategy for navigating transitions, “…to uncover options, balance outcomes, and seek out compromises” as they negotiate potential responses to change (p. 588). Krtalic et al.'s (2021) also found non-professionals learn basic record keeping skills in unstructured ways with limited support from published information resources. As a consequence, recordkeeping knowledge as a form of practical know-how about how to create, collect, and effectively use relevant personal financial data was an intended outcome of coming-of-age transition processes. Next, we turn to a discussion of the ways in which personal financial information management resulted in shifts in young adults' self-perceptions as financial actors.
4.4 Young adults develop provisional adult identities and recordkeeping practices as an outcome of their transition experiences
I think once I graduate, because I will be graduating in April of next year, reality is going to hit me. I'm going to have to be an adult and actually make sure I know which kind of documents I need to keep, where I need to keep them, and why I need to keep them in the first place.
For Claudia, adult life after graduation is when she perceives needing to finally get serious about her recordkeeping practices, highlighting how some transitions are inherently unstable and awareness of information needs can occur at any point within a transition process. Although new forms of financial stability, routine, and mastery of life were outcomes of transitions as described by Ruthven (2022), participants described financial coming of age as cyclical in nature rather than a linear path with clear end-points. For some, feelings of in-betweenness and ongoing uncertainty about recordkeeping were enduring affective experiences, highlighting how overlapping changes can obscure the outcomes of transition processes (Meleis et al., 2000). Those undergoing transition require opportunities to take stock of what is known and unknown to reduce uncertainty and unfamiliarity in order to resolve change processes (Willson, 2019, p. 853).
In the future, I can definitely see that I am going to have to make big changes and get a more organized system. I mean, if I get a real job or get property or you know, sort of big expenses like a car, it will require me to be much more organized and I will just have so much more material to deal with. And also as I get older, there are financial things that you are supposed to start saving for your retirement or kid's education and stuff so I will have to figure that out in the future.
Rather than being experienced as a point of culmination and resolution of uncertainty, financial coming of age was often seen as a liminal period that led to the beginning of a new transition that began with the achievement of adulthood. Transitions can be experienced in patterns of multiplicity and complexity with those undergoing change experiencing overlapping structural shifts (Meleis et al., 2000). The end of emerging adulthood was often experienced as the beginning of a new journey as a more mature financial adult. Researchers should resist temptations to think of transitions as linear trajectories with clearly defined destinations and remain open to the possibility of lack of complete resolution as a potential outcome (Ruthven, 2022). This raised important questions about the longevity of information practices developed during transition periods. Bergman and Whittaker (2016) suggest curation practices may also have finite life cycles complementary to the life cycles of documents as defined by the record continuum, meaning researchers should not assume that the information practices that help people resolve transitions will persist in the period after. Rather, some recordkeeping practices developed during transitions may lose relevance as life context changes, past information needs are satisfied, and new information needs emerge.
Sara: I tend to fall into these problems but want to come out of them on my own so I tend to not tell my parents whenever I have these issues.
Researcher: Because you want to be independent?
Sara: Yeah, that is also why I am not [asking my parents for help]. These are issues but I also realize that I have the tools to figure them out.
Although not yet completely independent, Sara experienced enhanced confidence in her ability to overcome periods of financial hardship and locate information from a variety of interpersonal sources that she could use to meet her growing financial and recordkeeping demands. This was an example of how learners tend to taper down use of information sources as they enter into maintaining phases of transitions (Lloyd & Hicks, 2022). Tapering down in the resolving phase becomes possible when young adults have a “working model of being” (Ruthven, 2022) that includes information management skills necessary for the new way of life.
I don't do this [tracking my spending in categories] anymore. I think I have pretty much regular spending, and my Visa and credit card statement and my chequing [account] balance[s] each month—they are enough for me. I used to do that just to see, during the first years in Canada. They were my first years after I was 18 and I was kind of taking control of my life. It was interesting to see my spending patterns but now I know my spending pattern and I don't have any much spending—impulsive spending—so I don't do this that much.
Maintenance entails identities and information practices becoming “part of a regularized way of living rather than part of a time-limited process of change” (Ruthven, 2022, p. 589). Maintaining also entails reduction of information practices that are no longer necessary once a person is firmly reestablished within their new setting (Lloyd & Hicks, 2022). Anastasia's reflection on her coming-of-age process highlights how the goal-oriented nature of many information practices, such as PFIM, may lose their perceived value once the goals that motivated such practices are achieved. Relying on the practice coined the “financial touch” identified by Kaye et al. (2014), Anastsia's achievement of her transitional goals allowed for the adoption of a more relaxed intuitive approach to maintaining awareness of her finances. Rather than being the absence of a financial management strategy unsupported by tools, use of the financial touch was instead a streamlined strategy that made careful consideration of the limited time and energy Anastasia had in her everyday life as a recent graduate now working in her field. We observed use of the financial touch to be an outcome of transition processes where more labor-intensive information practices successfully served their intended purposes by resolved uncertainty, thus allowing for more hands-off approaches indicative of maintaining change. Piras and Zanutto's (2010) warn that experts often take the invisible labor costs associated with learning and maintaining personal information for granted, undermining the value generated by PIM and contributing to its burden. As an outcome indicator, changes in practices and tools could reflect ways in which young adults felt more confident in their financial management skills and a returning sense of routine and normality associated with life after a transition (Ruthven, 2022).
4.5 Acting and becoming a financially responsible adult
The outcome of our analysis is a revised version of Willson's (2019) model of transition theory that includes information management as an information behavior that supports successful navigation of transitions (Figure 3). The unifying theme constructed through our reflexive thematic analysis is engaging in personal financial information management practices is part of the process of acting and becoming a “financially responsible” adult, thus framing transition as an act of self-transformation and initiation into communities of practice like Hicks (2022). The concept of financial responsibility invoked by participants revealed both personal qualities and information behaviors they associated with being an effective practitioner of adult financial management. Being financially responsible means being aware of one's financial behaviors and threats to one's financial wellbeing through effective use of personal financial data contained with self-authored financial documents and accessed through online banking apps and websites. To enact financial responsibility, young adults demonstrated engaging in self-reflexive practices that produced high-levels of self-awareness about one's consumption patterns and enabled modification of their financial conduct to respond adaptively to insights generated analysis of personal financial data. Thus, meta-level PIM activities (Feng & Agosto, 2019; Jones, 2008) of self-tracking and self-evaluation were important techniques for learning how to act and eventually become a financially responsible adult. Young adults' conceptualizations of financial responsibility reflected internalized cultural beliefs and attitudes expressed as part of a value system around appropriate and inappropriate financial conduct for adults. To be financially responsible means financial accountability for oneself as well as financial accountability to oneself and others including parents, roommates, partners, peers, and credit or service providers. Interactions with human sources of financial know-how were important opportunities for learning how to maintain financial records and act in financially “adult” ways. The most trusted information sources described by participants were parents and peers, whom young adults saw as possessing practical or formal educational experience. Financially responsible people were perceived as effective users of human sources of financial knowledge and aware of gaps in print sources of financial information, such as online consumer financial information. The outcome of the financial coming-of-age process was the construction of a provisional adult identity as a financially responsible person. Identities were provisional in the sense that they were inherently unstable with participants anticipating subsequent or simultaneous transitions associated with adulthood that might create new information needs and therefore change their newly formed recordkeeping practices.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
This paper explored how young adults learn to manage financial records and the roles PFIM plays in navigating the experience of coming of age. We found that PIM plays a significant role in navigation of transitions and construction of new identities as competent practitioners of information practices. In order to come of age, young adults must see themselves as financially responsible people. Financial records, apps, and websites in turn shaped how young adults viewed themselves as financial actors. The period of emerging adulthood was experienced as a time for both personal and financial exploration, during which participants became aware of new information needs generated by changes in place of residence, sources of income, and new financial obligations. To navigate change, young adults relied heavily on the financial know-how of human sources to address gaps in print sources and gaps in their own knowledge, making parents and peers important mediators of the transition experience. Financial records simultaneously were important tools for seeing, evaluating, and modifying financial practices. The outcome of this process was reduced experiences of uncertainty and greater confidence in one's financial management abilities. At the same time, young adults expressed ongoing experiences of liminality and anticipation of further contextual changes on the horizon that would restart the transition process anew. A particular challenge for those aiming to support recordkeeping literacy in personal finance is designing opportunities for self-reflection that reduces the tacit and invisible qualities of financial recordkeeping to improve awareness of growth and generate confidence among those nearing the end of the coming-of-age transition.
Contrary to the findings of Kaye et al. (2014), reliance on banking apps and websites did not indicate the absence of a financial management strategy. Rather, the financial touch was a sophisticated information use strategy that supported maintaining behavioral changes and accurately calibrated self-awareness about one's everyday financial activities and risks. Balance checking only became accessible to young adults in the resolving phase of the coming-of-age transition, whereas PIM in the initiating phase typically involved more demanding activities such as self-tracking using spreadsheets or paper spending logs. These distinct strategies satisfied different information needs at different points in the transitional process. Feng and Agosto (2019) noted a similar shift from maintaining to meta-level PIM activities such as sense-making among users of activity trackers as goals shift from capturing and organizing data to generating insights that achieve broader fitness goals. Thus, changes in PIM practices during the coming of age process provide alternative process and outcome indicators previously unrecognized within the transitions literature.
Exploration of PIM during transitions expands our understanding of the information needs addressed by PIM and functions of personal records beyond (re-)finding and reminding (Feng & Agosto, 2019; Lansdale, 1988; Malone, 1983). These include the construction of personal identity and supporting communication. Our findings also raise unanswered questions about life cycles of information management strategies. Future work can explore the durability of information practices after transitions since those developed during transitions may only serve as a temporary bridge between two states of (un)knowing (Dervin, 1998) rather than becoming the new norm as assumed by the information behavior models of transition. PIM research can further examine discontinuation or abandonment of organizational and maintaining behaviors as a property of PIM life cycles.
Lastly, further research can investigate personal records as a scaffold for teaching forms of literacy including financial management. Opportunities exist to better integrate PIM instruction into financial literacy resources for financial socialization to prepare both youth and parents for this transition, including for those who pursue career paths other than post-secondary university, those located in non-Western cultural contexts that structure transition to adulthood differently, and those within marginalized communities facing socioeconomic pressures and disparities that may motivate PFIM differently. Lastly, future work can also explore recordkeeping education and practices around specific financial products such as loans, savings, and investments to support the design of tools that enhance tangibility of financial concepts and support information needs in those areas.
