Close your eyes, Imagine yourself sitting on the couch, enjoying your favorite show on your 60” flat screen TV in the living room of your dream home, your dream car in your garage and earning a 6 figure salary from your dream job. You realize you owe most for your success and prosperity to the Financial Literacy class you took in high school. In a survey conducted by the NFEC, 51.4% of 18-24 year olds say Personal Finance classes in high school will benefit you most in life compared to math and english classes. Without a money management class, you will be lost in life. As a result of not obtaining a personal finance education, you will fail to learn how to write a check, do your taxes, create a budget and interview skills. You will also lose …show more content…
This will help reduce the economic impact of the long-term recession that now grips many adults across the nation because they were never equipped with the fundamentals of financial literacy and money management as a teen. Financial literacy is important because it helps students get prepared for the curveballs that life pitches. Educating young adults about money has a great impact on their future. Understanding the most basic lessons can get teens to evaluate all available options before making important monetary decisions. With the information students learn from Key to Financial Success, they will be able to identify and take advantage of all opportunities placed in front of them to live life to the fullest. This careful consideration may help them avoid personal debt and financial crisis and improve their chances of achieving financial security. Financial Literacy class not only helps the individual but helps the community as a whole. Taking keys to financial success prepare students for real world experiences. If teens are well prepared they are able to make educated decisions in the economy so we don’t have to encounter another recession. We will be able to live in a healthy economy where everyone is
Once high school ends, most students progress to college after a year or two from graduation. Due to all of the expenses for textbooks and etc., the student might realize that they don’t comprehend what to conserve or spend their money on to get through their years of college which will leave them clueless on what to do next. With situations like this that might occur, all high school students should take a financial literacy class as part of the mandatory course in order to get a diploma. With a numerous amount of students not having enough knowledge about how to manage their money carefully, presumably they’ll have trouble living their life as an adult. Taking a financial literacy class would help students stay out of debt, they’ll be prepared for their future, and they would recognize the discrepancies between wants and needs.
High school seniors need to be taught economic responsibility. Economic responsibility should not only be taught in the schools, but in the home as well. As we have discussed in prior chapters, some of the reason we are in the mess we find ourselves in is due to the overspending not only by individuals, but the government as well. Arthur MacEwan states, “U.S. consumers have a reliance on credit and fail to look beyond the present” (2012, p. 6) As a consumer the high school senior needs to be taught how to look beyond what they see. How are they going to pay for the credit they have taken out, if our country hits another recession and they are left without employment?
As college students now, we know how important it is to know about how to avoid debts because many of us are or will rely on student loans to get through our higher education. Champlain College’s Center for Financial Literacy used national data to grade each state in the United States on how much effort is put into providing financial literacy for their high school students. Based on the information gathered in 2015 only 5 states obtained a letter A grade on their financial literary education; these states are Utah, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and Virginia. These states require their students to take between half a year to a whole year of a either general financial literacy or personal finance. It is unclear how the student achievement is measured after taking these courses, but the resources to learn about what to expect are provided and are required to be able to graduate from high school, which cannot be said about all other 45 states in our country. 11 of the states were given a letter F grade, including our beloved California. These states do not offer finance classes alone or embedded into other courses. Although the achievement of students who take these courses is not exactly measured after graduating it is still significant information for them to carry with them into their adulthood. Many high school graduates will enroll in a community college or a 4-year university and will be targeted by credit card companies because they lack the knowledge on how important credit is and how to avoid debts. This is not only a worry shared by the graduating students but by the parents as well. MasterCard gave a survey to its cardholder members and 64 percent of these adults said they were worried that their
One might say there is a strong argument for the requirement of financial literacy for students in America. Americans continue to have increased balances on their credit cards as well as show a continued increase in bankruptcy filings according to statistics. Even the “baby boomer” generation is no longer exempt from financial hardships, as their generation has recently taken the title of “Fastest Growing Bankruptcy Demographic” from the 25 – 34 year olds (Linfield, 2011). Would it not make sense to say that Americans need to learn how to budget and borrow more wisely? Would not the best place to start be in schools? Well, the answer to that question is not a simple one.
Most of them are very young, anywhere from eighteen to twenty-two. In some cases, they may have never held a “real job,” as many bank on the fact that they will be drafted into a professional league, where they will make millions upon millions of dollars. Also, a great amount of college students do not possess the ability to handle their money in proper and intelligent way. This chart (Bidwell 1) displays how college students are becoming even less financially active and responsible. They tend to spend their money on things other than financial necessities, which the chart shows. Students spend less time focusing on important things like paying bills and balancing their checkbook, and more time dedicated to their other activities in
Today’s college students are bombarded with ads, commercials and mailings telling us that we need to spend money to be happy. At the same time, many of us come to college very ill-equipped to handle our finances. Financial literacy, defined as "the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage one's financial resources effectively for lifetime financial security," is important in our money matters as well as academic performance. Based on your understanding of financial literacy and experience (or lack thereof) of personal finance, 1) pick two personal finance topics (including but not limited to: credit cards, student loans, budgeting, saving, banking, and investment, etc.)
Outstanding federal student debt has grown to $1.3 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the amount borrowed will double by 2025. The number of student loan borrowers has doubled to 42 million, and default rates among recent student loan borrowers are at their highest levels in twenty years. The discussion of student debt crisis stems from increase in debt and default rates and concern about the effects of student loan debt on young adults’’ lives. According to Professor Elliott III, young adults that have outstanding educational loan debt are not able to successfully navigate the credit market for asset purchases. This causes these individuals to have a lower net worth and at milestone ages in comparison with their peers who have little to no educational loan debt.
The general statement made by Annamaria Lusardi in her work, “Should colleges require a financial literacy class? YES: Ignorance carries a high price”, is that personal finance class is essential for college students to be successful beyond graduation. More specifically, the writer argues that students who with little knowledge about how the finance works often in time end up with in debt even before they enter the real world of survival, because they have no idea of the complex system of finance. Lusardi states, “Our analysis of the latest National Financial Capability Study, or NFCS, finds that more than half of millennials take on student loans without even attempting to calculate what their payments will be.” This passage is suggesting
Being taught financial skills in high school teaches students the top 2 most important aspects of finance: credit scores and debt. As you ask yourself what debt has to do with finance, most students think that debt is when you borrow $3,000 and pay back $3,000, but the money you borrow always gains interest, which is the price you pay to borrow money, or the return earned on an investment. Without knowing this simple skill, many young adults are dozens of dollars in debt. They would get a credit card since they would think it would help them, but it only helps if you know how to use it. Many young adults would get accepted for a good amount and waste it fast, thinking it is free money without knowing the consequences of
Numerous amounts of people have financial problems when they get out of high school, so what should the school board do? In 2007, thirty-four out of fifty states have personal finance courses in their curriculum (Bernard 4). A financial literacy course seems to be what a majority of states are doing. Financial literacy courses have their pros and their cons just like everything else. Financial literacy courses bring up some very important questions.
One way our school could accomplish the goal of financial literacy education is creating a set class for high school students towards the end of their high school career. Offering classes in a curriculum that is set helps kids become better prepared for the real world. They receive a better understanding of what it is like having a great deal of responsibility, without the overwhelming of stress that comes with it since the class would be set in a classroom. According to the article written by Laura Langemo from Fox6 entitled “MPS Eighth-Graders Get a Lesson in Financial Literacy”, the Milwaukee Public School District Superintendent Gregory Thornton states, “We need [students] to be ready financially. We need them to be ready to step into the world and be able to actually navigate and manage money.” Students should feel confident after graduating that they will be capable of receiving such a great sense of responsibility. Teaching students about financial literacy at an older age throughout high school will allow them to be ready for their lives ahead. According to this article, many of the students were surprised with how bills amass in such a rapid pace. Similarly, the article from the Sandpiper by Edie Ellison includes information about being able to offer high school students classes in
The lack of knowledge plays a big part in the debt young people are getting themselves into. Credit cards are often offered to young adults as soon as they get out of high school. Many take advantage of having a credit card without even thinking about the responsibilities that come with it, instead they think about the things they will be able to buy. In “Generation Debt” the author Tamara Draut says that young people are getting into debt younger than ever before. Two of the reasons that are more costly on young students that hit hard on the budget are car repairs, and travel for students who have families and friends in other states (231). From my experience I know first-hand what it was like to be offered credit cards right out of high school, and I didn’t hesitate to get any of them. I st...
Williams spent years not having an education or being financially savvy, but fortunately, her daughter of college age was accepted to 18 different colleges on a scholarship. Williams couldn’t be any happier as she understands education plays an important role in financial literacy and one’s pay related to different levels of education. Mark C. Schug and Eric A. Hagedorn acknowledged that “someone with less than a high school diploma makes four times less than someone with a doctoral degree and also five times likelier to be unemployed”. (Schug and Hagedorn). These are lopsided ratios, but it’s very true.
Saving money is the most important thing that you will need to learn, whether it 's buying cheap food or putting away 10% of your pay every week, if you have nothing saved up now, you need to learn how to do