Personal finance advice doesn't work for most Americans, economists say

Americans typically score poorly in financial literacy tests. Yet they're on their own when it comes to making major financial decisions, from funding their retirement to buying a home, two economists argue in a new book that critiques the personal finance system.

Take the U.S. retirement system, which has shifted away from corporate-based pensions that guaranteed income in old age toward 401(k) plans, where workers must decide how to invest their savings.

In theory, taking control of your investment decisions should be empowering, but the current U.S. retirement system "appears too complex for many people to understand," write Harvard University economist John Campbell and Imperial College London economist Tarun Ramadorai in "Fixed: Why Personal Finance Is Broken and How to Make It Work