Financial Literacy - United States

United States

See also: Financial Literacy Curriculum See also: Financial Literacy Month

The US Treasury established its Office of Financial Education in 2002; and the US Congress established the Financial Literacy and Education Commission under the Financial Literacy and Education Improvement Act in 2003. The Commission published its National Strategy on Financial Literacy in 2006. The Jump$tart Coalition has championed personal financial literacy in the United States since as early as 1995.

While many organizations have supported the financial literacy movement, they may differ on their definitions of financial literacy. In a report by the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, the authors called for a consistent definition of financial literacy by which financial literacy education programs can be judged. They defined financial literacy as “the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively for a lifetime of financial well-being.”

The Council for Economic Education (CEE) conducted a 2009 Survey of the States and found that 44 states currently have K-12 personal finance education or guidelines in place. Due to differing criteria, the Jump$tart Coalition only considers 24 states to have a component of personal financial education required. Results from the Jump$tart Survey of Personal Financial Literacy indicate low levels of financial literacy among American youth.

Additionally, automobile finance companies and retailers provide consumer education through Americans Well-informed on Automobile Retailing Economics.

Also, Northern Illinois University started a campus-wide Financial Literacy Initiative in 2009 with a program called Financial Cents. Financial Cents provides college students at Northern Illinois University with the tools and knowledge needed to make sound financial decisions during their college careers as well as after they graduate. Other public and private universities across the United States have implemented similar financial literacy programs.

Read more about this topic:  Financial Literacy

Famous quotes related to united states:

    It was evident that, both on account of the feudal system and the aristocratic government, a private man was not worth so much in Canada as in the United States; and, if your wealth in any measure consists in manliness, in originality and independence, you had better stay here. How could a peaceable, freethinking man live neighbor to the Forty-ninth Regiment? A New-Englander would naturally be a bad citizen, probably a rebel, there,—certainly if he were already a rebel at home.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    In the United States there is more space where nobody is is than where anybody is.
    Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)

    Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kow-tow before any United States pro-consul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.
    Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909–1989)

    United States! the ages plead,—
    Present and Past in under-song,—
    Go put your creed into your deed,—
    Nor speak with double tongue.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The veto is a President’s Constitutional right, given to him by the drafters of the Constitution because they wanted it as a check against irresponsible Congressional action. The veto forces Congress to take another look at legislation that has been passed. I think this is a responsible tool for a president of the United States, and I have sought to use it responsibly.
    Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)