<p>Except it’s obvious to pretty much everyone ever that personal finance is more than just that, soccer. </p>
<p>Unless your plan here is to reveal to everyone that you have no idea about your own finances, in which case, good job.</p>
<p>personal finance is more than your personal income, expenses, and savings? really?</p>
<p>my finances are in fine shape btw, thanks for your concern.</p>
<p>health insurance
Home insurance
auto insurance
life insurance
disability insurance
saving for college
saving for retirement
buying a car vs leasing a car
taxes
buying a home vs leasing a place
controlling debt
401 (k)s, ROTH IRA’s, etc
asset allocation and asset reallocation
emergency fund
stocks, mutual funds, bonds
credit card use
financial planners
estate planning</p>
<p>so… all of those are decisions of income vs. expenses (and what is left over: savings), no?</p>
<p>Our school requires a semester of Consumer Education. I remember taking a similar class where we learned how to do our taxes, the ins and outs of charge cards and mortgages. Good practical knowledge that many people do not possess. </p>
<p>These topics are more than just adding and subtracting. Perhaps you didn’t need such a class, Soccerguy, but other people probably do.</p>
<p>I haven’t balanced a checkbook in years – who writes checks any more?</p>
<p>And honestly, I’ve never paid one cent of interest on a credit card and don’t ever plan to, and taught my kids the same – so when they get their own credit cards, they should puck them on the basis of accumulating frequent flyer miles or cash back – not what the interest rate is. It’s an irrelevant number as far as I am concerned.</p>
<p>Nova - in some school districts in IL, the consumer ed requirement can be fulfilled in AP Econ. I tried (unsuccessfully) to institute that in my district vs have my kids waste their time with the class. There is also an online / distance class that can be used to fulfill it - my S took it that way, my D just took the class itself. My kids weren’t into music, but it was a difficult class to squeeze in if you were in music classes.</p>
<p>With the electronic tools available in checking accounts, balancing is much less of a deal. You can see your balance and your schedule of payments going out into time and just eyeball them to ensure that you don’t have an overdraft. You can also just review your transactions over a month. I do write a few checks here and there, perhaps 10 or 15 a year.</p>
<p>In my district, only one of the two high schools offer AP Econ. The official policy is that AP Econ does not satisfy the consumer econ requirements. As someone who has taken both a consumer econ course and a regular econ course, I side with the district. Econ is more theoretical, while consumer ed is more practical. You can take it in 11th or 12th grade for regular or honors credit. Instead of taking the course, you could also pass a exam which showed you already possessed that knowledge.</p>
<p>To me, a lot of this stuff falls into just-in-time learning. It’s like learning how to do laundry. You don’t need to make a big deal of it - if the kid hasn’t ever washed his clothes before college, you can take 5 minutes and teach it to him, it doesn’t merit ongoing learning. (My kids did do laundry before college - but the concept remains.) </p>
<p>Learning how to rent an apartment, etc. falls into that category as well. Maybe my kid will never rent an apartment (I never did - I lived on campus all four years and then bought a condo). Or some decisions will be made for them (e.g., their employer offers xyz health plans and they have to choose among them). I don’t know, I just think this kind of thing is all just-in-time stuff that can be learned on the spot when needed.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, I would have agreed before I listened to the Dave Ramsey show a few times. The continuous callers who have obscene credit card balances and have financed crazy-expensive cars for 5 years clearly weren’t able to learn just-in-time. </p>
<p>I think how you were raised plays a large part. We were taught you bought what you could afford and that borrowing should be avoided, but clearly not everyone conquered that lesson growing up!</p>