The Case for Financial Literacy

Financial Literacy is a very critical part of maintaining financial stability. Unfortunately, many Americans and young adults lack the skills to help manage their finances, causing many of them to go into debt and not be able to afford their lifestyles without incurring even more debt. Some major areas in which young adults lack financial literacy, aside from personal finances, are taxes, consumer policy, homeownership, and stock market investment. Failure to make financial decisions has been a detrimental cause of the various financial issues we see among young adults. The reason most young adults are unable to make good financial decisions is largely due to them not having a financial education class in high school or college, which led them astray to develop poor financial habits. As a result, they now live paycheck to paycheck, tend to rent rather than own at much higher rates, and do not understand how to make the right financial decisions. Statistics show that if there are financial education classes at an earlier age for people, such as the time they are in high school, more people will learn how to be financially literate and stable. This would be an overall benefit for the people and the economy.