Thesis Statement 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.

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.

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

In the article “Financial education leaving Americans behind” the author, Greg burns, references a study at conducted at Harvard business school where they found that, “…[financial literacy] programs in widespread us during the past two decades were no use at all. ”(Document B, p.g.2). Financial literacy is not something that you can teach for a year and expect all student to fully grasp. High school is simply too early to teach it. Very few high school students are thinking about future economic responsibilities and any advice that is given to them through a course will not be retained.

In the article “Why American Teen’s Financial Literacy isn't Improving,” Annamaria Lusardi, writer of the Wall Street Journal, argues that young adults financial literacy levels are low and the differences in the teens levels is alarming. She develops this claim first by showing the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores and tells us the low scores and the gap between students scores. The financial literacy rate in the U.S hasn't moved in the past three years in the recent findings in May. As those teenagers turn into adults and go to college they have to make many financial decisions and if they are not educated to make well thought out decisions that will improve their financial future then they could end up with

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

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.

Financial literacy should, without a doubt, be a requirement to graduate in every high school. Every year, thousands of high school students graduate and are forced into the real world with no knowledge of financial literacy. How could they be expected to succeed? High schools prepare students to find the perimeter of a garden, write in MLA format, and always keep their shirts tucked in, but fail to prepare students for loans,car notes, or taxes.

By the time of Ashton’s graduation, he knew how to find the value of x in a quadratic equation more easily than to balance a checkbook. His inability to know about financial literacy landed him into bankruptcy at the age of 25. Nowadays, young Americans who graduate will be asked to make financial decisions for themselves and high schools are failing to prepare them for the mathematics of the real world. Many students who leave high school face a similar handicap while dealing with simple deeds such as managing their loans, money and debt.Therefore, Schools in America should allow financial literacy in their curriculum since it gives a better understanding of financial management for the future.

Ivy Institute of Financial Literacy will offer seminars with presentations and templates on building wealth. As the founder of IIOFL, I will provide a platform designed to provide industry advice in plain language. IIOFL will seek to demonstrate ways on taking inventory of personal finances using a balance sheet. Explaining the components of the balance sheet to determine the client’s net worth.

Financial literacy courses should absolutely be mandatory in the process of graduating from high school. It’s an essential piece to one's’ survival in life. It holds weight as far as its applicability to the real world, therefore abandoning the, “It doesn’t matter! I won’t ever have to use that in real life!” types of arguments.

What would it take to improve the level of economic and financial literacy in Americans? Gupta, A. K. (2006) quoted Chris Farrell as stating that “the case for economic literacy is compelling to the extent that it helps people navigate better through this world.” There are many financial decisions that Americans are required to make throughout their lives such as managing income, deciding what expenses are necessary like food and housing, budgeting for other necessities, saving for retirement, and hopefully achieving the American Dream by creating wealth. Without economic literacy there is a danger of making bad decisions and poor choices that can hurt one’s potential to not only create

“Bankruptcy doesn’t discriminate: in 2001, almost one in five Americans from ages 18 to 24 declared bankruptcy…”(Walsh).

With the current state of the economy, it would be beneficial for students to take a personal finance course before the end of their secondary education. Already, there are many students who come in with no knowledge of how to manage their money. Without this knowledge, individuals are unable to develop those skills and are blindly pushed into the workforce and are unable to stretch their income to pay off their debts. Because individuals do not develop those skills they are also unable to budget their money effectively possibly causing many families who owe a lot of debt are unable to pay it back. It is more than possible it personal finance was a general education requirement knowing how to budget and reduce debt can make these situations