As you all know, we at Andson are all about financial literacy and are dedicated to our mission of ensuring that our youth are financially literate! We love it when we find others with the same mission.
The article, “Teaching Financial Literacy, Starting With Teens,” in The Wall Street Journal discusses how Charles Schwab’s daughter, Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, emphasizes the importance of educating youth about finances.
According to this article, “It’s no secret that financial literacy is rampant in the U.S., where less than one-third of the population can correctly answer questions on interest rates, inflation and diversification, according to a study by Annamaria Lusardi of the George Washington University School of Business.”
It also points out that “only 17 states require high-school students to study personal finance.”
Ms. Schwab-Pomerantz, like us, promotes teaching our youth to be financially literate and says that it is vital for money management skills to be learned and developed at an early age.
She has focused her resources on educating teens specifically about the importance of being financially literate, and has joined forces with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to accomplish this endeavor.
In order to ensure that financial literacy programs do, indeed, make a noticeable impact on youth, she conducted a year-long study on her Money Matters program, in order to, “ensure we were making a good investment and we’re having an impact.”
The results of the study were promising:
“At the start of the program, just 47% of participants understood the importance of paying yourself first, or automatically saving 10% of what you earn. By the end, 71% understood.”
Damon Williams, senior vice president and chief educational and youth-development officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs, agrees with the importance of financial literacy programs. “The Money Matters curriculum provides them with the knowledge they want but have nowhere else to get,” he said.
It’s awesome to know that we have partners out there who deeply care about our youth and their futures as well.
To read more about this, go to http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702304640104579487533888321814-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwMjExNDIyWj.