Five Reasons to Teach Financial Literacy
Life is about money.
Every day, adults are faced with making financial decisions. Finances play a massive role in adult lives, and teens are swiftly moving into the adult world. They must arrive with the skills and strategies they need to make good financial decisions. A financial education course is, essentially, a course in “adulting”. For the 21st century adult, understanding how money works is no less important than knowing how to read.
Parents want their kids to learn about money.
You’ll get no complaints from parents when you introduce this important subject. A recent survey found 63% of respondents think personal finance education should be taught in schools. In fact, 67% of those surveyed preferred to vote for a candidate who prioritizes adding mandatory personal finance education to the public school curriculum.
Financial illiteracy has lifelong painful consequences.
A lack of knowledge about money can lead to high debt levels, low social mobility, and diminished financial security. Managing money is one of the major causes of stress for adults. Everyone, from every walk of life, deserves to know how to manage their personal finances and build wealth. It’s the ticket to living in a better, safer neighborhood, getting a good education for your kids, better health care — even a longer life!
Financial literacy address wealth disparity in America.
Wealth is more than the ownership of assets. There are other perhaps even more important aspects to wealth: Wealth is power. It is the ability to be heard and to influence. No one knows this better than someone living an isolating, powerless, soul-crushing life of poverty. In the past few years, we’ve come to see that disparities in wealth can lead to vastly different outcomes in the justice system. So yes, wealth is justice and power.
Students should know about issues and institutions that shape their financial futures.
Everyone should be familiar with institutions that drive monetary policy and shape commerce. They should know the basic roles and goals of such important institutions as the Federal Reserve Bank, Wall Street, SEC, USPTO, G7, Eurozone, and more. It’s equally important to introduce students to economic issues and controversies that are likely to shape their financial futures, such as the Social Security controversy, identity theft, cyber-security, cryptocurrency, the gender pay gap, tax reform, and income inequality, and more.