Teach the key concepts first, then give them Money Path to help students make real-world financial decisions on their own
According to the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, there are five key components of teaching financial literacy to students:
- Earn – understanding this includes everything from job income and allowance to even what they get from Grandma
- Spend – learning the difference between spending on “needs” vs. “wants”
- Save – knowing one of the key lessons for financial success and achieving life goals
- Invest – learning the pitfalls of charged interest on debt and the value of earned interest on savings
- Borrow – being aware of the risks inherent in taking out a loan whether for a car, mortgage, vacation or emergency
Fortunately, the number of states mandating financial literacy education is on the rise. And, slowly but surely, more states now require completion of an actual financial literacy course before graduation. Some colleges are even getting on that bandwagon recognizing the risks that new college students face from pervasive and repeated credit card solicitations.
But what are students doing with the information they’ve been given and the tools they’ve been provided? If teaching these concepts is sometimes challenging, helping students put them into practice in their own lives is often a hard-to-achieve next step.
The statistics bear that out. According to Annuity.org, 75 percent of teens still lack confidence in their knowledge of personal finance. And 73 percent of them report wanting more personal finance education. Clearly there’s a need that still has to be met.
So how do school administrators and educators help teens walk out of high school and into real-world situations ready to make sound financial decisions? Decisions that can lead to a lifetime of financial security?
If you want a personalized, high impact tool to guide your students as they plan for their academic, career and financial futures, we have an app for that: Money Path!
A learning tool unlike any other
Money Path offers an experience unlike anything currently available anywhere for personal finance education. As they face the complex questions of adult life, teens need a high-impact, virtual learning solution to help them make decisions from a place of knowledge and empowerment, not fear. Money Path is a comprehensive and unparalleled web-based software tool, specifically for high school students, that uniquely links career and academic planning with financial planning.
Through a personalized, technology-based experience, Money Path helps reinforce personal finance concepts with real-world application for increased financial confidence and readiness. Students use Money Path to apply the financial knowledge and skills they’ve learned in the classroom to build real and actionable plans for their future.
What makes Money Path special is that it helps all students, whether they’re heading to college or a trade school, transitioning to the workforce, beginning an apprenticeship or entering the military. Money Path will help them calculate the related education costs/student loans/debt, and understand the salaries they can expect with the career they choose.
A journey to lifelong financial capability
The information and awareness that Money Path provides students is priceless. Money Path will take your students on a journey through important milestones like those below (and more) after they’ve made their education and career choices:
- getting married
- buying a house
- having children
- saving for short- and long-term emergencies
- borrowing money
- investing money
- making charitable donations
- saving to help educate their children
- planning for retirement
Money Path gives students the chance to see where their chosen path will take them and help them appropriately plan for their financial future. It’s an experience unlike anything provided by other personal finance tools on the market.
Thanks to sponsor support, Money Path is currently available free to every high school in Wisconsin. Money Path will set teens on a course to reach their lifelong financial goals and strengthen their communities because once they sign up for Money Path, students have access to the Money Path app and its valuable planning tools as long as they need it.
Ready to help your students start on the path to making sound real-life financial decisions? Learn more here or request a Money Path demonstration here.