Personal Financial Education Research Paper

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.

When I asked Ms. McGlashan what were the three biggest personal finance mistakes that she sees young people struggle with, she said, “Savings, young people don’t invest, or invest in the wrong things.” Ms. McGlashan

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.

Throughout unit three of the Financial Literacy lesson, payment types, I learned many things. To begin, I learned about credit. Credit is an agreement where a borrower receives something of value now and agrees to repay the lender at a later time. This is very useful, because it not only allows you to make large purchases, but it allows you to make purchases with ease. When considering getting a credit card, it’s important to research some information about them. This includes the interest rate charged by your credit card company, special fees, rewards, and the maximum amount you can charge to your card. While credit cards can be fun to use, it’s important to use them responsibly. You should make your payments on time (this will help you stay

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.

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

They must understand budgeting, taxes and banking while avoiding traps like payday loans that prey on the poor and uninformed. Despite this, only five states require students to take a stand-alone semester financial literacy course, so school districts simply don’t offer one. Campaigning for FBLA national office, I was surprised how few students, all enrolled in high school business courses, had access to a financial literacy instruction. I experienced the results of this shortcoming firsthand after my parent’s divorce. Lacking a personal finance education, my mother initially struggled with basic budgeting and understanding mortgages and taxes. By expanding financial literacy education in high schools, we can lay the foundation to challenge wealth

Although the reliance on student loans continues to increase for college students across the nation, the vast majority of American teenagers are not required to attend and complete a Financial Literacy course before graduating high school. According to Jillian Berman, only five states scored an A on the 2015 Report Card on State Efforts to Improve Financial Literacy in High Schools, and those same five states are the only states in the country that require students to take a dedicated semester of personal finance courses before graduating (Marketwatch.com). There is an obvious problem with the state efforts to properly educate finances when 14 out of 50 states rank in at a failing grade. Money is an essential asset to life on Earth, and proper education on financial management is vital for the basic requirements to sustain life. Education on how to manage money in order to afford food, shelter, clothing should be the main priority of the Financial Literacy courses. More in-depth are topics

Critics argue that schools should not have to pay a new teacher to teach a subject that could easily be taught at home. A lot of schools do not have a financial management class and do not have the money to change that. Why should they the board of education spend millions of dollar on schools whose students do not care for. While these are good arguments however, we cannot simply brush this problem off for the parents or say that we cannot fund the schools. Some kids’ parents may not be home all the time and will be too tired to teach their kid. Some kids do not live with their parent for one reason or another. If a parent is just a bad influence in their spendings do you think that they are going to teach good management of their money? We already keep kids in school for seven hours taking required courses that are only helpful for a few people. Not everyone is going to use math, science, or history in their daily lives. Financial management is something that you use everyday. History helps you learn from the past, yes, but financial management helps your future more than history ever could.

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”.

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.

There should be a financial literacy test once you get in the 9th grade. Most students when they get out of highschool have a hard time with all the loans they have to deal with. Yet, not all students are ignorant to financial literacy. If the students prove to the government they are prepared for the tribulations of adult financing, they shouldn’t have to take an irrelevant class for them. Although, if they should definatly try to educate themselves. If the students don’t make above the basic financial knowledge requirements then they should have to take the class.

Actions speak louder than words because no matter how much you tell someone something with your words they’ll never really believe you until some action is taken.

American Express Company (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as AmEx, is a diversified global financial services company headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best known for its credit card, charge card, and traveler's cheque businesses. Amex cards account for approximately 24% of the total dollar volume of credit card transactions in the US, the highest of any card issuer. [1]

Sotiropoulos’ (2012) extensive research shows that young adults who have been taught about financial responsibility are less likely to be involved in unsafe debt situations. Basically, this means that financial education starts from home. Young adults are also influenced by their peers but it