Personal Financial Education Research Paper

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.

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

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

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

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”.

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

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.

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.

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

Financial education is a very important lesson to protect people from financial crisis. Parents should educate their children about finance as early as they can. Children have the ability to grasp information. This will help them to have a balanced life as they become an adult. Teaching children about finance is a fundamental lesson. Good money management is very important. For example, when I first started working, I was thirteen years old. Since I was young, I have been managing my finances very well. I never liked to buy or owe anything that I cannot afford. If I have a plan to purchase, I always check my account. Then, I make a decision based on the money that I have. Just because I