Outline On Financial Literacy

In this society, some of the most important things in your life have to deal with money. In Chad Foster’s book, Financial Literacy for Teens, he taught his readers how to save, spend, invest and give away your money. Reading this book has taught me to start saving when I’m young, know the differences of what I need to buy rather than what I want, to make money while I sleep and giving away some of your money will not only help yourself, but help many others as well.

Americas debt has doubled over the past several years, and most Americans do not know how to manage their finances. One of the only solutions that come to mind when thinking of how to make the economy better is financial literacy courses. [Thesis] Students should be required to take financial literacy class before graduating high school because [Reason 1] people need to learn how to logically make financial decisions, [Reason 2] and also to prepare people to make important economic decisions in an ever changing economy.

So often we hear about teaching the whole child. Today, more than ever, personal finance knowledge and awareness are a critical part of what it means to teach the whole child.

Financial decisions are something everyone faces like buying a car to figuring out how to pay for students loans or debts. We are not taught about these types of financial decisions and how to go about them from a young age. In the news article Working Financial Literacy in With the Three R’s by Tara Siegel Bernard, she talks about how more states are beginning to require a personal finance instructions class. In the article Finance Course Prompts Debate by Gina Davis, she suggests incorporating financial elements into already required classes.

The idea of adding a financial literacy course into schools curriculums and requiring students to take it before graduating is a current decision being considered by numerous school districts. Supporters of this idea say that it would have a positive effect while the people who oppose this idea state that financial courses don’t work.

Future initiatives with financial education can change the landscape of an individual’s life and the economy in which we live. If there is limited focus on learning about personal finances we continue to set our economy up for constant failure. There is a substantial amounts of education provided to school age children that does not directly impact their financial education for their future. In high school individuals learn

In the past years America began to suffer in economic field and in areas such as inflation. There are many reasons behind this misfortune, one of which is the financial illiteracy of the nation as a whole. A mandatory for graduation, financial literacy class in high school can be a solution to the problem of economical instability in the country. This course will prepare the young adults for the future that lies ahead, by teaching the responsibilities such as money management, consumer rights, credit, debit, and savings (source #3). In addition, the gained skill will both be helpful now, in solving problems with the credit card debt, and in the future, when determining the amount of taxes and bills one has to pay. Recently, several states

The summation made by Scheresberg, Lusardi, and Yakoboski (2014) of Generation Y is that “many college-educated Millennials have low financial literacy levels; many are not aware of their low financial literacy; many have not received any formal financial

Being able to manage your money is an important skill to have as an adult, but the current education system does not make financial management a required class to take. While some people think that parents are the ones responsible, this should not be

Those born with a silver spoon in their mouth are destined to be wealthy. Not only because they come from old money, but because those who come from old money teach their kids about money. Although economics and finances have recently been added to the curriculum of American schools, there is only so much that can be learned from a book. This kind of knowledge is gained mainly through life-experiences and there are many people who believe it is the parent’s job to make sure their children are prepared to deal with finances in the future. Many people who are not of old money are financially illiterate; they have little to no education about finances. They may know how to make money, however, they probably have no idea how to keep their money. Therefore, they have no idea how to teach their children how to keep money. For this reason, a large portion of the population is focused on get-rich-quick schemes hoping to “make it big” or “strike it rich”.

Even with these changes some may still doubt why these classes are important, but here are a few statistics about the financial literacy of today’s adults. According to Caitlin Blake of Concordia University, “Only 39% of adults make budgets and track their spending.” and “32% of adults do not save a portion of their annual income.” (Blake) These statistics show that a growing number of adults either don’t use, or haven’t acquired the skills needed to be financially wise. Even with these numbers still being a minority at the moment, a possible outcome in the future could be a majority of adults struggling to manage personal finances. Though many schools still do offer courses to teach these types of skills, many do not require them past middle school. With these classes still being electives, they are still highly susceptible to being eliminated from schools course offerings and, students opting not to take them. Now off the topic of financial literally or; therefore, the lack of, we now move on the topic of

First, with 13 states already having a mandatory financial literacy class, many studies have shown that those classes are not working but might give them false hope that they know what they are doing. Tara Siegel Bernard quoted Annamaria Lusardi in a New York Times article that schools need to start teaching the basics of economics so that the students can “‘make financial decisions” on their own. However, this is just giving the students false hope because in another article from the Chicago Tribune, by Greg Burns, he says that there is more and more evidence stating that the classes are not only not working but “worse, they may actually hurt,” the student. He continues

Many believe that financial literacy classes are helpful and a good tool for you in the future. Finance is a waste of time and the classes do not help you in any case. The material taught in these classes are not used in everyday life and the methods used in the class are not helpful in any way.

It’s no secret that a majority Americans struggle with all things finances. The jargon alone is enough to leave many confused, and with the complexities of modern economy becoming an ever increasing tangled mess, Americans are looking to do something about it. One popular suggestion is financial literacy classes for high school students. While the idea sounds promising, the reality of these classes is rather farfetched. People praise the thought of implementing financial literacy into our school system in order to help kids in their future. This praise is filled with good intentions, but the sad fact is that this is not in a student's best interest.

This statement is rather shocking but proves why high school students should be taught financial literacy. Financial literacy is the ability of learning how to manage money. Financial literacy should be taught because, more people have been going bankrupt at a younger age, they have more debt options, and lastly are unable to manage money because they have never been taught. This is not just a problem for an individual, but potentially a huge problem in this country’s future.