Ten years after the financial crisis and Great Recession, WalletHub measured the financial literacy of each state. The average grade? No higher than a B, with most states falling in the D+ to B- range. The reason? Little to no financial education.
“We don’t learn personal finance anywhere in school —some schools have very limited financial education — so for those going through the education system, they’re not much they’re learning in terms of practical life skills,” Tony Steuer, a financial expert and author of “GET READY!: A Step-by-Step Planner for Maintaining Your Financial First Aid Kit,” told InsideSources. “Most school systems don’t even touch financial skills.”
According to WalletHub’s data, those who don’t finish high school or complete a bachelor’s degree are even more financially illiterate than those who do.
Financial literacy extends beyond mere understanding of how credit cards and budgets work. Most employees choose a health insurance plan through their employer, and most Americans mortgage their homes and take out loans to buy cars. The problem is, insurance plans, loans and mortgages can be confusing if you don’t have some background in finance.
“Companies spend so much money on their group insurance benefits and yet employees every time when it comes to open enrollment, they have no idea what they’re really doing,” Steuer said. “They really don’t have enough knowledge to make an informed choice.” Steuer advocates for Americans to read all documents before choosing insurance or signing a loan. Hidden fees and other terms and conditions lurk in the fine print, and not everyone knows what to look for when choosing a financial product.
While educating Americans about their financial health is critical, Steuer thinks the financial services industry — the insurance companies, lenders, hedge and mutual fund managers of the world — doesn’t do enough to make the process transparent and easy-to-understand for consumers.
“These products are not financially easy, they’re complex,” Steuer said. “The financial services industry continues to put out really opaque materials and not simplifying their products and services in a way that people can easily understand. …Financial services companies could dramatically simplify what they do.”
Some financial technology (fintech) companies want to change that. SoFi, for example, consolidates student loan debt under a more manageable interest rate. Lemonade offers renter’s insurance. Kabbage provides small business loans. Although these fintech companies try to simplify financial services and give consumers more options, they also bring a whole new set of problems. “Their biggest issue is their staff and leadership, 90 percent of them are tech people, and very few have financial knowledge,” Steuer said. “These companies are continuously turning over what their mission statements are and what they’re doing, and I think they don’t understand financial stuff very well.”
One way for Americans to take control of their finances is to simply take responsibility and start reading and researching every financial product they use, Steuer said, because there’s a wealth of books and resources on the internet. Advocacy groups like the National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) and Financial Services Institute provide a variety of resources for free on their websites.
“People need to make a decision that they’re going to start to get informed,” Steuer said. “They need to be dedicated to that and spend as much time searching for a financial product as they do searching for the perfect TV or car.
Some financial services companies, like Fidelity Investments, do try to educate Americans on various financial products and financial health. This year, Fidelity’s goal is to reach 100,000 school-age children with financial literacy training. So far, 47,000 children have participated in the training.
