Financial Literacy Training 101
How did you learn about handling money?
Did your parents sit you down and teach you how to balance a checkbook or how to properly handle a budget? When did you learn to write a check or how to pay bills?
I don’t know about most of you, but these are discussions that I NEVER had with my parents. We never talked about money. As a matter of fact, I remember that my parent’s checkbook was locked up and we weren’t even allowed to look at it. “Money” was just something that we didn’t discuss in our family. We didn’t talk about paychecks or bills or budgets. I can remember when “things were tight” and we didn’t get to do extra things, but it was still never discussed.
Recently, the State of Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education passed a new standard that would require that all graduating high school students must earn ½ credit in Personal Finance. The new standards stated the districts should begin establishing local curriculum to meet these standards beginning with the 2018-2019 school year.
Although, I am thrilled that this is now a Missouri standard and classes will be taught to our students soon, I also feel that this is something that we really need to press home with our young people. Money is a difficult topic and it is so important that we work closely with our young people about the proper way to handle finances. Discussions about handling credit cards, personal credit scores, recording debit card transactions, balancing a checkbook statement, etc. are basic steps that need to be taught and discussed.
If you have young people in your home, don’t be afraid to have this discussion. Talk about your finances and the proper ways to handle money. I remember telling my youngest daughter that we didn’t have enough money to go the movies one Saturday. Her quick reply was, “Just go to the ATM and get more!” Although it was a funny moment in the parking lot, it also provided me with a chance to have a quick discussion about finances.
If you have young ones at home and would like a little help with this discussion, let us know. We are happy to provide a talk to a youth group, social club or neighborhood group. We are happy to provide basic financial training and help teach/train our young people (or older people!) ways to handle simple finances. We are experts at it and will be happy to offer you some basic direction and advice. It is what we do at Hollander & Associates.
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