• Only fifty-nine percent of the young adults in Generation Y (ages eighteen to twenty-none) pay their bills on time every month. (2008 Financial Literacy Survey National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Inc. and MSN Money)
• Ten percent of American with mortgages reported being late or missing a mortgage payment in the last year and seven percent of adults are either getting calls from collectors or thinking about filing for bankruptcy. (2008 Financial Literacy Survey National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Inc. and MSN Money)
• Almost fifty percent of those who closely monitor their finances say that they learned about personal finance from their parents or at home more frequently. (2008 Financial Literacy Survey National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Inc. and MSN Money)
• Eighty-five percent of college graduates plan to move back home after graduating. (Twentysomething Inc. 2010 survey) The rate has risen from sixty-seven percent in 06’. (Jessica Dickler, CNN staff writer)
• About thirty-four percent of parents have taught their teen how to balance a checkbook, and less than that has explained how credit card interest and fees work and ninety-three percent American parents with teenagers report worrying that their children might make financial missteps such as: overspending or living beyond their means. (Charles Schwab’s 2008 “Parents & Money)
• Around sixty-nine percent of parents admit to feeling less prepared to give their teenager guidance about investing than they do having the ‘sex talk’ with them. (Charles Schwab’s 2008 “Parents & Money)
• Three out of every four Americans say they aren’t saving enough. (2008 Pew Research Center)
• Fifty-four percent of college student respondents had overdrawn their bank account and eighty-one percent underestimated the amount of time it would take to pay off a credit card balance by a large margin. (Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy Survey)
• Forty percent will never gain a net worth in excess of ten thousand dollars. (American Dream Education Campaign)

As you can see already from the financial education statistics shown, most experts are in agreement that people are suffering because they missed out on financial literacy training. Each of these studies point to the fact that most people never received a personal financial education course and the consequences can be challenging.

The financial literacy statistics listed below are also focused on the consequences as well as where youth expect to pick up these skill sets. The last grouping of statistics shown will get more into the benefits of offering money management courses.

• Students between the ages fifteen to twenty-one report that they feel unprepared to face the complex world of the twenty-first Century (American Dream Education Campaign)
• Often times the educators themselves aren’t familiar with financial materials and are “afraid that students will ask questions that they don’t have the answers to, so they steer clear. (“Financially Illiterate: Schools not Teaching Personal Finance,” FoxNews.com, 06/18/02)
• Ten percent of American with mortgages reported being late or missing a mortgage payment in the last year and seven percent of adults are either getting calls from collectors or thinking about filing for bankruptcy. (2008 Financial Literacy Survey National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Inc. and MSN Money)
• The majorities of educators were not giving a financial education course and feel unprepared to teach the subject. Many lack the confidence to teach it to students. (“Taking Ownership of the Future,” Financial Literacy and Education Committee, 2006)
• Students and parents agree that college students are not well prepared to deal with the financial challenges that lie ahead. Less than one-quarter of students or about twenty four percent and only twenty percent of parents say students are prepared to deal with the financial challenges that await them in the real world. More than three-quarters of student, about seventy six percent, report that they wish they had more help preparing for their personal finances. (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Around ninety seven percent of parents (or legal guardians) that have a child(ren) eighteen years of age or younger expect their oldest child to continue their schooling through college, and around seventy-nine percent of these same parents expect to pay for some or all of their child’s college education. (Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Personal Finance Poll)
• Eleven percent expects to pay less than five thousand dollars. Seventeen percent expects to pay five thousand dollars to just under ten thousand dollars and sixteen percent expect to pay over thirty grand. About twenty-six percent of parents who are expecting to pay for their kids college education have saved less than five thousand and thirty-two percent don’t have anything saved. (Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Personal Finance Poll)
• Over ninety two percent agree that it is important to have good money habits to be successful in life and believe it’s important to know how to manage money to live within your means. In addition the same percentage reports that it feels good to see their money grow. (Charles Schwab Foundation)
• Only twenty percent had saved over a thousand with older teens 16-18 significantly more likely than their younger counterparts. (Charles Schwab Foundation)
• A survey among working teenagers found that about fifty percent say when they get paid that they spend some of it and save the rest, while thirty percent said they deposit the money in an account. Fifty three percent of teens report saving for the future. (Charles Schwab Foundation)
• The majority of college students say they pick up most of their personal financial education from their parents, but less than half of students said their parents make a consistent conscientious effort to teach them. About seventy percent of college students say their parents are their main source of information. (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Forty-nine percent of teens are ‘eager’ to learn more about money management. Only fourteen percent had taken a class on a financial literacy topic and over a third want to learn money skills from their parents. (Capital One)
• Only eighteen percent of parents are talking about school budgeting and seventy nine percent of parents see themselves as positive money role models for their kids. Only a small percentage of parents are taking advantage of the everyday learning opportunities about money. (Capital One)
• Almost one-third of college students, when reflecting back on their freshman year, admit that they were not very well prepared for personal money management on campus. Twenty percent of students claim to have been very well prepared. (KeyBank and conducted by Harris Interactive)
• Three out of four admit to having made mistakes with their money when they arrived on campus. (KeyBank and conducted by Harris Interactive)
• When asked how closely they tracked where their money was being spent, fewer than forty percent said they track their spending very closely. (KeyBank and conducted by Harris Interactive)
• About fourteen percent of American adults mentioned their company’s retirement plan when asked about ways they save. (Harris Interactive for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant)
• Although those financial literacy statistics paint a dismal picture of what is going on with financial education. There are some financial education statistics that do give us hope.
• The fact is that the financial literacy statistics reflect what happens when you never teach kids about money. The overwhelming majority of students never received financial education, and the financial literacy statistics shows the results of this omission.
• The financial literacy statistics in the next section are more positive in nature and reflect what can happen when a practical financial education is delivered.
• Research shows that individuals graduating from high schools in states that require personal finance education have higher savings rates and net worth as a percentage of their earnings than individuals graduating from high schools in states where financial education is not mandated. (“Integrating Financial Education into School Curricula,” The Department of the Treasury)
• Eighty seven percent of teens report their parents are their main source of financial education. (Charles Schwab Foundation)
• Research indicates that people who have had financial education participate more often in retirement programs, make larger contributions to the program and have a much higher savings rate than others. (“Integrating Financial Education into School Curricula,” The Department of the Treasury)
• We need a completely different set of skills for kids to operate well in what we call a ‘Third Wave,’ or knowledge-based, economy. We must therefore, radically redesign our conception [of schools].” (Alvin Toffler)
• Eighty nine percent of people are in agreement that saving and investing can help you achieve the freedom to do what you want in life. (Charles Schwab Foundation)
• About two out of three parents surveyed say they definitely see personal finance education as their responsibility and consistently make the effort to teach their children about it, compared to the only forty one percent of students who say their parents did. (The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.)
• Teenagers that reported learning about managing savings and checking accounts were more likely to report having opened both types of accounts, and they were more likely to save, have a budget and money to make purchases. (Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Charles Schwab Foundation)
• Youth that reported learning to create and maintain a budget were more likely to report actually developing one. (Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Charles Schwab Foundation)