Solving Financial Woes through Education

Posted by Andrew Lipsitz

One often-overlooked reason for our current financial mess is a lack of education about money and business.

Bankers made mortgages to people who could not afford them. And those who were unable to afford their homes and other desires bought them anyway -- unfortunately, on credit. So far, 21 states now require at least some type of instruction on personal finance, according to Jump Start Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy based in Washington, D.C.

Plus, you can find a lot of free information at a U.S. government Web site available to all families: http://www.mymoney.gov/. Or, you can get information by phone at 1-888-MYMONEY. The Web site and phone line are manned by the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, made up of 20 federal agencies.

Help for teachers and parents also is available from the nonprofit Alliance for Investor Education, based in Washington, D.C. Among the alliance's 21 members are state securities regulators, the Security and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The Alliance provides free information at http://www.investoreducation.org/.
Newly available to consumers: An interactive game-based financial literacy course, MoneyU, which already is used in public schools and colleges. Available at http://www.moneyu.com/, the program, designed for young adults between the ages of 17 and 24, teaches skills such as how to compare credit cards and auto loans. It also teaches how to research starting salaries in a chosen field, manage debt, save and file income taxes. The aim of the interactive game is to use smart financial strategies to become a virtual millionaire.

The creator, Griffin Enterprises of Rockville, Md., is offering the game to students for $14.95 through June 1, 2010.
Expect financial literacy to become an even bigger issue in the near future.
The Financial Literacy for Students Act of 2009, introduced by Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., provides grants to states that add banking, credit and taxes into school curriculums for grades six through 12.

Tahira Hira, personal finance professor at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, is particularly interested in seeing fewer college students experience financial distress.
"People need to learn the basic principles so they can make the right purchasing and financial decisions," she said.

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