April is the financial literacy month. However, unless your are in the financial industry or into personal finance blogosphere, you will barely notice that April is more than just a month when taxes are due.
Talking finance and personal responsibility is generally boring and mundane to majority of us. The exception is when there is a get-rich-quick scheme. That is why mega million lottery tickets make headlines and Bitcoin frenzy brought speculators to the market.
In my opinion, one of the biggest failure in the United States education system is the lack of personal finance courses. I believe every student should take a course on personal finance before graduating high school.
Here are some statistics from Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA):
- Only 57% of Americans are considered financially literate.
- 76% of millennials lack basic financial knowledge.
- The U.S. ranks 14th globally in terms of financial literacy.
- Only 16% of U.S. students are required to take a personal finance class.
To read more on this issue, click [here] to visit Visual Capitalist to see some amazing visuals and graphs illustrating this issue.
No wonder a significant number of Americans go into debt while faced with an emergency. As we all know, knowledge is power. If you lack financial awareness, you will make countless financial mistakes that will cost you heavily in the future.
Don’t be an April fool; learn the basics and change your financial life.
Thank you for reading and stay tuned.
