The Economist – M. Ray Perryman
“Understanding basic concepts can spell the difference between personal financial stability and wealth on the one hand, and perpetual financial difficulties and stress on the other. Increasing the level of understanding of basic financial ideas and concepts could improve a number of pressing social problems such as excessive student debt and mortgage foreclosures, income inequality, poverty in retirement and more…The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) includes financial literacy questions as part of its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international survey evaluating education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. Students in the United States fell below the average…Education can make a difference. The National Endowment for Financial Education sponsored a study of the issues a few years ago. Study authors…looked at data from almost 16,000 college students and found that those from states where a financial education course was required had the highest reported financial knowledge; moreover, they were more likely to display positive financial behaviors…As parents, we should begin teaching money concepts early and often. It can only help!”(more)