Please watch the great 4-minute video by CNBC on Financial Literacy in America. It’s shocking that fewer than 57% of Americans, taking the Financial quiz, The Big Three, can answer the questions directly. We need to do a better job teaching basic skills like using a credit card, buying on credit, understanding interest rates, having a budget, saving for emergencies, planning for expenses. The vast majority of schools give NO financial education. I remember as a teen getting “Home Economics” – it was a sewing class, that I hated. I took French, English, Latin, Math – Trig, calculous, Science, History, Geography, etc., etc., but never any courses on balancing a checkbook, taking out a loan, buying or renting a place to live. Financial literacy should be a required class for a high school degree.
Take the finance literacy test yourself. See if you can answer the questions. Can your children answer them? What about your grandchildren?
