This topic sprouted from a discussion about debt / family / gender equality, etc.
I am curious to know if any of your kids are offered classes in economics and finance, either required or elective?
I was fortunate to grow up as the son of a financial analyst who was very involved as a parent, so the economics of college, career, and marriage has come naturally to me.
Is this a parent’s job, or should schools also be involved?
I don’t think the academic subjects of economics or finance are relevant here; more like personal money management or family budgeting
My kids’ Home and Careers class in middle school actually had a lot of good advice on these subjects. I don’t think any of it stuck though. It just doesn’t seem real to them at that age.
I took macroeconomics and microeconomics. I don’t think those courses really help people NOT be financially illiterate. I didn’t take any finance courses. Our kids didn’t take any finance courses but also took economics courses. I don’t believe they’re financially illiterate either.
In 9th grade health/PE, plus scouting badge, they had to make a mock budget, assuming a mock salary and show how it would pay for typical daily/monthly expenses—rent, food, transportation, etc. There was more as well—applied personal finance.
My daughter had to do a personal finance class in middle school and there was also a section of it her senior year in her econ course.
As parents, we’ve been working with her on that since the time she had her first babysitting job.
Interesting. So far, two middle school classes reported, and one 9th grade. @mathmom , do you know if a similar class is offered in high school?
@roycroftmom Probably right about personal finance. Does your district offer anything in high school?
@OhiBro well I didn’t know the answer to your question. It turns out in NY you can do a business track in high school. And I found in our high school’s course catalog this:
Our high school offered a course called Senior Seminar. Curriculum included practical aspects of banking, budgeting, savings, loans, interest, tax filing, procuring first apartment, personal record keeping, etc. I don’t know how many students prioritized taking such a class (district where 95% of seniors were college bound). The ones I know who took it found aspects of it worthwhile.
Seniors at our school must take one of these courses to graduate. AP Macro is probably the least useful in terms of personal finance information.
I am a firm believer that financial literacy is not a theoretical subject. How many kids in HS have investments and mortgages? It is one thing to manage a fantasy Yahoo stock portfolio, but it is a totally different thing to manage a real MF and stock account. Ask some fresh law school grads what section of their bar exam was the toughest, and many will answer that they hated real property. Why? Because they have not owned a home. An easement is something very theoretical until you get a house with one. 
That said, kids need to get a firm grasp of basic math and some basic financial concepts, for example, the basics of loans and interests.
https://reporting.auditor.utah.gov/servlet/servlet.FileDownload?file=015410000038ypZAAQ
My kids took mandatory financial literacy classes in HS. Both took it online over the summer in order to maximize their academics during the school year. Because of the importance of the topic to me, I worked closely with them when they took it. It was fairly lightweight, but probably a good foundation on the basics.
Between the HS course and being raised in a responsible household, everything seems to have worked out well for them.
If it were up to me, “The Millionaire Next Door” would be required reading somewhere along the line.
Mandatory classes in our high school: Financial Literacy and then Life Skills.2 very good classes except they are given in 9th and 10th grades. IMO should be 11th & 12th when most students have had their first job, getting ready for college or the workforce.
One of my kids took a personal finance course as an elective in undergrad and said it was one of the best courses he took…and felt it should be a required course. He is a fine arts major and also took a course in grad school on finances for the self employed. Also excellent for him.
As a sophomore, after the AP Euro exam, my D’s class spent the last month of the school season doing “Life Skills” such as balancing a checkbook, learning basic financial accounting, learning about car and home insurance, simple banking, among other skills.
To the OPs point, I think ALL graduating HS seniors should take a similar class as they should have a basic understanding of how the real world works and to able to function effectively as an adult, whether or not they intend the go to college or not.
This is actually pretty encouraging. Three people reporting mandatory classes in high school! Great point @BmacNJ makes about taking the classes too early.
A semester course in personal finance is a graduation requirement for the high schools in my county (along with a one-semester health class). Most students take it as juniors or seniors. While it may be something that could be taught at home, there are a lot of low-income people in our area, many without college or even high school degrees (and a high rate of adult illiteracy). So I do feel it’s an important and necessary course for our county’s young people.
My own parents were college-educated and pretty savvy with money (as well as frugal, which I’m benefitting from today). But somehow teaching me the nuts and bolts of personal finance (beyond spending little on luxuries and balancing a checkbook) fell through the cracks. I knew nothing about investments, insurance, taxes, etc as a young adult and had a lot of catching up to do. I would have benefitted from such a course in high school.
I subbed for a civics class yesterday at our local HS. I think they were 10th graders. Topic du jour was credit and debit cards, characteristics of each and advantages of each “if used responsibly”. So, they are trying.
We never considered leaving financial literacy to schools. We taught our son to count using money, and financial management has been part of the mathematical calculus of growing up in our household. We helped our son open a savings account when he started kindergarten, and he had an independent relationship with our broker before he started high school. By the time he entered college, he had opened and funded his Roth IRA, and he is well on his way toward financial independence. It would be great if all schools started teaching kids about money from the get-go, but I don’t believe the burden is on the schools. That is our responsibility.
It becomes very real when anything beyond room and board at home must be purchased with their own funds. It was very important to us that our son understand as early as kindergarten that anything he wanted beyond what we provided in housing, clothing, and food had to be purchased with his own money. He started a car fund in sixth grade when he understood that we would never purchase a vehicle for him. The lessons they learn at home are the ones that stick.
Ideally, in addition to personal finance, the kids should also learn basic accounting and business communication (i.e writing thank you letters, cover letters, business emails etc). Ours did not have any school courses available, so we thought them from early on. Ideally, every parent should do this, but not every parent has the skills and knowledge. We routinely consult kids of our friends when they have questions about investments, benefits, insurance products etc.
We named our oldest a trustee and a guardian of her younger sibling when she turned 18. This was a very unusual choice, but we were totally confident in her ability to make well-informed decisions (with help of adult advisors we trusted). We would not be comfortable making this choice if we did not teach her well.
I taught my D the basics. She’s had a number of classes that included budgeting sections. Senior year she’ll be taking a 1 credit personal finance course that goes into depth about budgeting, mortgage, various loans, retirement planning, health insurance, etc.