April 21, 2008

National Financial Literacy Month

          April is slated as National Financial Literacy month and focuses on improving personal finances for everyone. An extension specialist from Oklahoma State University reminds us that research shows that individual financial practices and habits begin early in life and understanding and establishing them is essential to achieving monetary goals.

          Sissy Osteen, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service resource management specialist states, “Young people are particularly vulnerable to making financial mistakes. Learning through trial and error and observing consequences is a very powerful way to learn; but when we are talking about learning new financial behaviors, these trial and error consequences actually cost money.”

          The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, which promotes the teaching of personal finance in kindergarten through 12th grade, conducts a nationwide survey of high school students every two years to measure the 12th-graders’ knowledge of personal finance.

          The results of the 2006 survey were compared to surveys done previously and show a slight increase in scores over the 2004 survey, from 52.3 percent in 2004 to 52.4 percent in 2006. Results of the 2008 survey will be released during Financial Literacy month this year.

          The survey found that:

          - Parental involvement plays a great role in the financial education and literacy of young people. The vast majority of students say that they learn their money management skills at home.

          - Students with family incomes in excess of $80,000 per year outperformed all other groups.

          - Students who intend to further their education tended to do better than those who do not with scores of 54.9 percent vs. 41 percent.

          A good source of personal finance information for older teens is the High School Financial Planning Program (HSFPP) developed by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) and distributed in partnership with Cooperative Extension educators and credit unions nationwide. For additional information about the NEFE HSFPP, see www.hsfpp.nefe.org.

           For information about Jump$tart Coalition Clearinghouse, see www.jumpstart.org.