Do you think personal financial management should be a required subject in high school?

We used to call that home economics, and they always seemed to work in this “Perfect world scenario.” In their world, you get paid and ⅓ goes to rent automatically. Then they expect you to predict what you want for dinner a week from Tuesday and what your Wednesday night snack will be. They also budgeted “emergencies,” and those of us in the real world knows how that goes.

It’s not a bad idea to teach the guidelines, for sure, but if they think that on January 1 I could really, to the dime, know how much I will spend in clothes the upcoming year, I really wonder what world they are living in.

Not for a whole semester, but I do think that there should be a segment somewhere on it. Just think how much money they’d have if they opened IRA accounts at that age.

I was shocked when my daughter graduated and couldn’t balance her checkbook.
Yes, there needs to be some kind of course for basics.

Absolutely. My hubby’s a banker and the stories he could tell about all the people, some of the university educated, that don’t seem to have a clue how to properly manage their finances… It annoyed/concerned him so much he volunteers in classrooms teaching these skills.

I home school. So I sit my kids down once a month and run them through bill paying and saving as I do it for me and my husband. They all have bank accounts and they save 50% (at least) of everything they take in.

Yes! It’s crucial!

Yep. Along with basic life support and the correct use of deoderant.

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

The thing is, really, it doesn’t matter how financially successful you are in life, if you don’t learn how to budget or save or the ins and outs of compound interest then no matter what tax bracket you’re in you’ll be broke or worse than broke.

I could not even tell you the calls I used to get when I worked years ago in a banks call center. People didnot understand how to balance their checkbook let alone how to paydown their loan so that they didn’t pay as much interest in the end. The overdrafts people did when they had money in their savings and all they had to do is keep track and do a simple transfer. Money management is a big thing to me, I just cant understand those who don’t do it. After seeing what I saw I made a conscience decision to not have credit cards or loans and just pay cash for things and that is just what I do. I only buy what I can afford and live within my means and I feel if more people did that we wouldn’t be in the credit/housing crisis’ we were in.

I don’t disagree, but parents should be responsible for teaching this. My parents always kept me in the dark concerning my father’s pay and how much bills were. They never discussed money with me. Only when I went off to college did I learn, and I learned the hard way by not being prepared.:/

Our teenage sons know how much is coming in and how much is going out. They know we need to save for the more expensive items they want. We don’t hand them a credit card and tell them to not go too crazy with it. We don’t even have any credit cards. It’s cash or nothing in our home.

We help our 7 year old daughter budget her tooth fairy money. After losing her 8th tooth she’s learned she can buy something better if she saves a few of those dollars. She insisted on spending her first dollar at the dollar store. She quickly learned $1 toys and a pack of bubblegum don’t last very long.

A six week course would be helpful, but parents need to teach too.

@12Oaks I am concerned with the lack of basic knowledge. The difference between a savings account and checking account. Tracking debit expenses to ensure your bank statement is correct (instead of pulling out money, waiting a week and assuming whatever the bank says you have in there is correct.) The basic information on IRAs, 401Ks so they understand what the forms mean when they get a job. The stuff you need to know almost as soon as you turn 18.

@All The financial world has gotten a lot more complex for just the average person than it used to be. Unfortunately, for many parents money is still a taboo topic or the parents really do not know either.

In my Jr High it was called Home Economics and in High School it was part of the regular Economics course. As I remember, you pretty much couldn’t get out of school without having taken them but maybe cutbacks have retired those kinds of classes?

@Neizvestnaya It may also depend upon what state or district you are in. I would like to see it in all high schools.

@optimisticpessimist: I grew up in California and once upon a time it was supposed to be the best state for everything; so we thought.

Required? Maybe. Should it be offered and VERY encouraged to take? YES! I wish I would/could have taken something in high school. They barely taught us how to write a check… it would be a very helpful addition to our education system.

Unfortunatly, the reality of the situation of the matter is that the people that have the kids in the schools we are talking about are probably already living way out of their means and don’t know the first thing about managing their money correctly for themselves so how can they possibly teach their kids. Take one look at the housing crisis, if people understood even the first thing about a loan and how it works they would know an arm on a mortgage is only going to get you into trouble because you are not even touching the principle of the debt you owe. The crisis would never have happened if people were taught a few of the basics of a loan and how it works, how principal and interest is paid and so on and so forth. And don’t even get me started about credit cards, omg is that a nightmare. If people only understood just how much they actually pay when they charge something and don’t pay the card off each month but make the minimum monhly payments.

@creative1 I am talking about all public high schools.

Yes, but I think the parents should have a part in it as well. My parents taught me the basics and I come to them with any questions I have, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to learn it in school, especially for the kids who’s parents don’t tell them anything about it…

I started learning the basic check writing skills in 7th grade, we were taught how to balance a checkbook and how to write checks. If public schools started like they used to in the 7th grade with the basics by high school kids could be learning how loans worked. It really isn’t that hard but people want to put the blinders on with that sort of thing and let the banks have all the control.

I think it is valuable. How much will that car/furniture/clothing/holiday cost you if you buy it on finance? Credit is so easy to get these days and whereas when I grew up (in the olden days before the wheel) you didn’t put everything on credit. If you wanted a new sofa, you saved for it.

My son said to me the other day that he wanted to get a flat with his friends over the next year or so and when I talked to him about budgeting he mentioned that “electricity is part of the rent”. Only in his dreams unfortunately.

So yes, any credible and realistic information is helpful I think.