Financial Literacy

Our life is made up of a series of choices, all of which pave the path that we take. Such choices are embedded with the responsibility of our financial future, which can influence us both negatively and positively. It is for this reason that the concept of financial literacy should be widely accessible to our state and nation's youth. This understanding of monetary preparedness is vital to successful navigation through a complex financial market.

It is an obvious fact that financial aspects are a major part of the daily life, as an adult and even as a young individual. Each and every one of us has to make financial decisions concerning recreation, health, education and more. The question is whether to start with financial education as part

It is not enough to recognize that financial knowledge is low; we must also understand whether financial literacy matters in decision making. Addressing this question is particularly difficult because financial literacy is not distributed randomly in the population: those who possess high levels of literacy are likely to possess characteristics, such as high talents and ability, or patience, which also are correlated with financial decision making. Moreover, individuals may choose to invest in acquiring financial knowledge; thus, financial literacy itself can be a choice variable. And, it may be that those who have high wealth, rich pensions, or investments in financial markets care more about improving their financial knowledge.The inability to grasp simple concepts like calculating interest, planning a budget to live within one’s means, computing tax payments, investing wisely, discerning between competing financial offerings such as mortgages, besides other financial concepts can put individuals at a distinct disadvantage and set them on a path to financial ruin despite being

Holdingpotentiallyconfoundingfactorsconstant,theonlystatisticallysignificanteffectof mandatorypersonalfinancial trainingonsoldiers wasthattheyadoptedworsehousehold budgeting behaviors afterthe trainingthanbeforeit.Whenfinancial educationwas mandated forbankruptcydebtors,theywereless likelytomeettheir bankruptcyplans;this leavesthem substantiallyworseoff financiallybecauseratherthan payingonly the court’sassessment of what theycouldaffordontheir debts and then having the remaining debt dischargedto givethema freshstart,debtors whodonot meettheir planslose the protectionofthe courtand aresaddledwith the entireoriginaldebt owed(Braucher2001).Youthwho playa stockmarketgame as partof a high schoolpersonalfinancecourse increase their financial knowledge,but theyareless thriftythantheir peers. Several studies show financial fraud victims to be more financially knowledgeable than no victims. Then borrowers who have beencounseled that the mortgage terms they have been offered are poor attempt torenegotiate with their lenders, on average, they end up with terms that are no better. Youth who took a personal finance course in high school do not report betterfinancial behavior several years later than youth who did not take the course(Mandell and Klein 2009). Adults who attended public schools where theywere required to take