While I think it might be nice if schools taught this subject, in general, they are doing a pathetic job teaching them the basics so I don’t know how high this particular subject ranks. And yes, PE is required (somewhat) but look at the shape today’s kids are in. So I’m way past thinking schools are going to solve these problems. It starts in your home. But as we can see with a lot of anecdotal evidence here, lots of homes, ahem, SUCK, at money management as well.
No, I didn’t learn money management in school. And my parents offered a pristine example of what NOT to do with your money which I learned a painful life lesson from. My husband’s entire family are unbelievable savers and that ethic was passed down to him thankfully.
My kids get money management lessons almost daily in our house. I share pretty much all aspects of finances with them except our exact incomes. They help create shopping lists and clip and use coupons at stores. I show them how I pay bills online and the very few I write checks for and how that all works. I show them what bills we have as a household, what they are all for, and what would happen if I didn’t pay them. They know about our investments and that each of them has a college savings plan. They are excited to get bonds as gifts from family and watch them grow. They aren’t old enough to be into brand labels but when that comes I’ll simply explain that I’m spending X amount, period. You can choose this many items of clothing from this store or that one ridiculously priced item from that store; your choice. I don’t give them an allowance yet and I’m undecided on whether I will in the future (I see pros and cons). But they get paid small amounts for volunteering to do chores (beyond what they are expected to do). The money they get is almost always saved and that’s their idea. Recently we made a somewhat sizable household purchase which everyone will use. So the entire house helped save and pay for it in cash. Their contribution was pitiful of course but hopefully they learned something out of the process.
Life is the best teacher. I had a similar situation to meadandale except my father didn’t die; he just totally abandoned the family when things got rough. I had a job from the time I was 15 and I had to work full time every year of college to fully support myself and pay for my education because there was no alternative. My choices were work or be homeless and starve. It never occurred to me to seek any support and there was certainly no possible help from family to fall back on. I remember credit cards being offered in college but I never had one. To me it was like saying no to drugs. Again, it never occurred to me that it was OK to buy something I didn’t have the money for. We’re talking about an entire course in school when that’s the 2 second lesson right there: “Don’t buy what you can’t afford.” Pretty simple. I was taught nothing about how to manage personal finances in school and my parents certainly taught me zilch yet I still knew that and have never been in debt outside of modest student loans which were paid in full after graduation and a modest mortgage which will be paid off next year. And it certainly wasn’t because I was lucky.
(P.S. I buy everything with credit cards now for the points and pay them off every month. I no longer think they are evil.)
