(InvestigateTV) — Financial literacy is essential to adulting, but in schools across the country the curriculum on budget and finance varies greatly.
John Kiernan with WalletHub said many schools are still failing to teach this essential life skill.
“Only about one in five states is really excelling in terms of teaching financial literacy and budgeting,” he shared.
Kiernan’s team at WalletHub analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They looked at key metrics like whether personal finance courses are required, student test scores on financial literacy, and overall school performance.
The states ranked highest for high school budgeting education include Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. While at the bottom are Massachusetts, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and Alaska.
“Those states and many, many others do need to kind of up their game if they want their kids to really graduate and be prepared for the realities of adult life,” he commented.
Kiernan said that there have been calls for finance to be added to curriculum, but little progress.
In the meantime, he said there are ways to learn outside the classroom, from online resources to family discussions about money. Any step toward practical experience can help.
“If parents kind of include their kids in major financial decisions,” he said, “and talk through things with them, kind of determine what the family should spend money on or save up for, including your kids in that really helps them learn along the way.”
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