Financial Literacy A Must For Every Child Today!

I love my 12 year-old son very much and simply cannot deny him allowances whenever he asks for them. But of late, I can see that he’s exhausting his allowances more frequently than he used to owing to more expenditure on friends, personal accessories, foodstuff etc. This is the time; I feel that I should catch him at the habit and make him financially literate. He should know how to use his mom’s hard earned money after all! This will not only help him in present but also in future to plan his expenditure and save up for a secure future. With the present economic downturn, making your child financially literate is imperative.

Fiscal crimes are increasing by the day. Grooming the fiscal personality of your child will help him/her develop a sound fiscal health which will enable appropriate usage of personal and national fiscal resources. The times ahead for Americans seems to be that of decreased social security, higher taxes, lesser free services and unpredictable insurance schemes. Apart from this there is an increased social demand on people to elevate their standards of living to be accepted by their contemporary society. From personal experience I can say that evading valid taxes, bank loans and credit card payments has become a common issue with the youth of today. Rather, unfortunately many of them measure their intelligence with how best they can discover loopholes in the present financial laws and turn them in their favor. The larger aim of financial literacy is to make the child efficient in understanding his/her opportunities and make the best use of them.

What are the financial literacy gateways available for children?

Financial literacy for children starts from home and it can go to any extent in depth and professional knowledge. Here are the different bodies that have taken it upon themselves to educate children.

• Parents and teachers – Children learn the basics of money management at home. Financial knowledge driven by commonsense is what I could impart to my child. He learnt the concept of frugality but still I feel he can do better with more information on how best he can deal with his money, not only to save for a rainy day, but also to enhance his wealth. I could provide him the practical training required for efficient money management. Moreover, I wanted to invest some money in the most profitable manner for him, but found my knowledge inadequate to find the best opportunity for him. I had to take the advice of financial experts to know the most profitable investment opportunities available for my child. Though as parents we impart the basic financial education, to hone their financial skills and wisdom, better give them some formal training.

Financial literacy resources are easily available online and in markets which parents and school teachers can utilize to educate their children. Children simply love the fun and interactive way in which they get to learn a serious subject. The icing on the cake is that some websites are roping in celebrities to share their money management strategies with children knowing that children would like to model their icons very much.

Financial literacy software are easily available in the market. They are loaded with features. There are some activity and game websites, such as The Real Deal: Playing the buying game , Teach Children to Save from ABC and Financial Fitness for Life which are some of the best online resources that parents can also access to impart economic education to their children.

• Non profit organizations

Many non-profit organizations have taken the initiative to enlighten children on proper money management and fiscal laws of the country. They are generally an association of state and university bodies that have come together with the social intention of imparting fiscal education to children and young adults.

National Council of Economic Education , a non profit association of university boards and state councils has a number of resources for teachers on financial literacy for students. The lessons are free and you’ve got a catalogue to look up the level of education. Ideally meant for teachers these resources are being used by professional trainers like bankers also.

Jump$tart Coalition has got a unique fun and interactive way to impart financial literacy at the K-12 level. If you are a professional trainer or a school teacher you can search their databases and avail the resources that you want. Also, I believe some of the free materials offered are good for trial teaching. You can also browse through their directory of sponsored publications to access the best resources available.

Operation HOPE is the biggest nonprofit financial venture of today. Starting at Spelman College in collaboration with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) have come up with the Banking on Our Future College Edition, a financial literacy program that aims to equip children and college students with the skills to combat the present day financial crisis.

These are some of the major financial literacy education ventures that are attracting a lot of youth from across the nation.

• Financial Education Companies

Private financial education companies are dedicated to the purpose of educating children. Particularly they are thriving well at the time of recession. Numerous private banks offer financial education either independently or in collaboration with schools. Bank professionals and economic experts train the children. Bank of America teaches financial tools to its students. Children, especially young ones love to learn the serious affair of managing one’s finances in a fun way.

The Kid$ense financial curriculum is a financial literacy curriculum that companies can help in inclusion of the school curriculum by donating a course.

Now that completes the different gateways to make your child financially literate. Along with life skill education financial education grooms your child completely. Why only children, an adult financial novice is not a rare occurrence. But many educators feel that will the education really make people adopt frugality or not is the question. For example, an obese person knows what he should avoid to slim down, but if he really follows the prescribed routine is a matter of debate. But in the present times, I think people are left with little choice, but to follow the tenets of financial literacy.

“Financial literacy is not an end in itself, but a step-by-step process. It begins in childhood and continues throughout a person’s life all the way to retirement. Instilling the financial-literacy message in children is especially important, because they will carry it for the rest of their lives. The results of the survey are very encouraging, and we want to do our part to make sure all children develop and strengthen their financial-literacy skills.”- George Carl