60% of Americans Think Personal Finance Should Be Taught in School — Here’s How It Could Benefit You
Written by
Jennifer Taylor
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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There’s a good chance you didn’t learn much — or anything — about personal finance in school. This could explain why many Americans aren’t great at managing money.
Three in five — 60% — Americans believe personal finance is one of the most valuable subjects students can be taught in high school, according to a FICO study. In fact, the only subjects respondents cited as more useful in adulthood were math (66%) and English (65%).
Despite this, most people aren’t actually learning key financial abilities in school. Only 46% of Americans said they were taught personal finance skills in a high school classroom.
The impact of this lack of financial education in schools appears to be on full display, as more than 1 in 4 members of Gen Z adults do not consider themselves financially literate — significantly higher than millennials, Gen X and baby boomers — according to FICO. Even worse, one-quarter of Gen Z adults believe not having proper personal finance skills kept them from achieving their financial goals over the past year.
Overall, 90% of Gen Z adults believe they’d be in a better place financially if they had more access to financial resources and education. They’re not alone in this mindset, as 74% of Americans feel the same way.
Change May Be on the Horizon
Personal finance education may not have been a priority in the past, but things may look different at many schools in the near future.
More than half — 28 — states currently require students to take an economics course to graduate from high school, according to the Council for Economic Education’s 2024 Survey of the States. This includes three states that have been added in the past two years.
Even more promising, 35 states now require students to take a course in personal finance to graduate high school. Twelve states have been added to this list since 2022.
In fact, California, Alaska and Washington, D.C are the only places where personal finance is not included in the state — or territory — standards.
Americans in Debt
Increased financial literacy could help Americans make better money moves. Giving people the tools to make wise financial decisions early in life might help them avoid taking on more debt than they can handle.
As of the third quarter of 2023, U.S. consumers owed $17.1 trillion in debt, according to Experian. The bulk of this — $11 trillion — is secured by assets, but notably, credit card debt realized a balance growth of 17.4% in 2023.
Currently, Gen X carries the most debt of any generation, with an average of $157,556 per person as of 2023, according to Experian. Millennials are next (averaging $125,047 per person), followed by baby boomers (averaging $94,880 per person) and then Gen Z averages $29,820 per person.
As of 2023, Gen X also has the largest average credit card debt, totaling $9,123 per person, according to Experian. Following a slightly different cadence, baby boomers are next (averaging $6,642 per person), followed by millennials (averaging $6,521 per person) and then Gen Z averages $3,262 per person.
If the emphasis on providing financial education in schools continues — and it’s effective — future generations may be more in sync with one another. If learning to properly manage money becomes commonplace, carrying large amounts of debt might become more of an outlier than the standard.
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