The Need For Financial Literacy

The golden years are something to anticipate. Life is expected to become easier and less complicated with time for family, traveling, and hobbies becoming attainable. A comfortable retirement is part of the American dream; however, this dream has a price tag and the burden of saving for retirement luxuries has fallen to the individual. Each generation, and every individual person, faces different issues in accumulating retirement savings including the lack of employer sponsored plan options, failure to start saving until later in life, and a general lack of retirement funding. At the heart of these matters is an overwhelming degree of financial illiteracy.

Financial literacy is important during the early years as it allows an individual to strategically navigate their finances and evaluate job opportunities while moving through life’s stages. In 2020, fewer than 10 states had financial literacy course requirements for high school students; this has increased to 26 states as of June 2024. While this number shows progress, less than 5% of school districts in 10 of the remaining states, plus Washington DC, have any requirement. Without a basis to financial literacy, or even the basics of budgeting, generations of youth are set up for a retirement with a low fixed income and impoverished living standards.