What’s new in financial literacy?

• More anecdotes about need to teach personal finance in high school (Daily Finance) from an educator who developed a program to teach Brooklyn College students:

“Seventy of incoming college freshman told us that they have never been taught basic financial literacy skills. Yet, they are signing up for student loans, opening credit cards and making decisions that will have a serious impact on the rest of their lives. Why don’t we do more to help our children prepare for a financial world that can be extremely expensive when not understood properly?”

• Americans get failing grades when it comes to investing for retirement; I wonder what the results would have been for millenials just starting their careers (Time):

Eighty percent of Americans with nest eggs of at least $100,000 got an “F” on a test about managing retirement savings put together recently by the American College of Financial Services. The college, which trains financial planners, asked over 1,000 60- to 75-year-olds about topics like safe retirement withdrawal rates, investment and longevity risk.

• J.T. Foster High School in Nanton (Alberta, Canada) started new personal finance course (Nanton News):

This is the first year the high school has adopted and offered the course with Social studies and English teacher Roger Doucet teaching the class.  Doucet said he wanted to make the course more than what is taught in a typical classroom.  “People in the community have been asking for courses dealing with money and finances for the last number of years – last summer it was confirmed we would offer these courses from Grade 7 to 12,” Doucet said.

• Former HHS director Sebelius laments lack of knowledge about healthcare insurance (The Hill):

But she added that throughout her tenure as HHS secretary, she learned that many Americans have “very low” financial literacy about insurance terms like “deductible” and “copay.”  “That has been a stunning revelation. It’s not because anybody hid it from folks, it’s because this is a complicated product,” she said.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.