On Veterans Day, Financial Literacy in Focus

Financial literacy observers are humming over the report recently released by the American Journal of Public Health  highlighting the lack of financial education among military members, which has positioned veterans as being less empowered to manage their financial affairs and more likely to be targets of predatory lender practices and other forms of fraud. The report further suggests that a broad range of health and housing issues experienced by veterans are the result of low levels of financial literacy.

The Journal’s findings come on the heels of other research that has shown that veterans, who collectively comprise less than eight percent of the U.S. population, encompass roughly twenty percent of Americans without secure housing, and that they are more likely to become homeless during their lifetimes as a direct result of poor financial education.

Notwithstanding the fact that there are other contributing factors to the homeless program experienced by many veterans, such as drug abuse and post-traumatic stress, the Journal’s findings made clear that deficient money management skills also play a large role.  More than 1,000 veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq took part in the study, which found that approximately give percent had experienced homelessness, while one-third of participants wrote bad checks, exceeded their credit limits, or had been the target of collection agencies seeking to secure debts that were due and payable.

But one notable element of these findings provides hope; namely, that financial literacy is a contributing factor to veterans’ woes, but that it can actually be addressed.  Financial education programs and initiatives already are offered to veterans in an effort to teach them how to create budgets, plan for retirement, invest wisely, and avoid fraudulent financial schemes.  Many contend that these financial literacy initiatives are critical to the financial health of veterans, which in turn is critical to the health, housing and other aspects of their lives.