Learning about Financial Literary Month

April is Financial Literacy Month. The day raises public awareness for financial education. As far as schools, Michelle says we are going in the right direction, “According to Next Gen Personal Finance, they developed a report called ‘The Status of Financial Education.’ There’s only 18 states that have a requirement for a student to take a semester’s worth of Personal Finance class to graduate. There are 21 other states that have finance as part of their curriculum, perhaps it’s embedded into a math course.”

Overall, Michelle says this is pretty limited, and it means parents should be involved teaching these skills too. 

These principles include: Earn, Spend, Save and Invest, Borrow, and Protect, according to the Financial Literacy and Education Commission. 

“There’s tons of resources online for teachers or parents.”

Michelle recommends looking for resources at fdic.gov/moneysmart. “They have curriculum set up for different age categories. They have different worksheets and exercises,” Michelle explains.

Consumerfinance.gov/ has a printout of a board game to make these lessons fun.