Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
I have a pet peeve with our schools.
I believe no one should get out of grade school without an understanding of a savings account, checking account and credit cards.
No one should get out of high school without a basic understanding of personal finance, especially the time value of money.
Most go out into the world unarmed in the world of finance; it leads to so many problems.
This I could not agree with more, and have been saying it myself for years. ALL high schools, be they public or private, should have a required economics course that teaches common basic financial knowledge, that is required of most everyone to get through life.
How to open and balance a checkbook. How to look for good interest rates on savings. In regard to risk vs. percentage of reward. How to buy and sell stocks and bonds. How to invest. How to shop for loans and home mortgages. They teach none of that. But many instead require 4 years of English. So that way you'll graduate knowing how to diagram a sentence. A big help in today's world.
There is so much totally useless information kids are taught today. And even more useful information that is completely neglected on how to get through life financially, with the best options. And this is at least part of the reason why you have 18 year old kids working at car dealerships, signing their financial lives away. Over paying for shiny, overpriced objects to put into their heavily financed, bright red $5K tool boxes they "need" about as much as a case of the Flu.
While you can't teach common sense in school, you can at least give some of these kids a good start, that won't end in financial disaster by the time they're 30.