Teens Report Feeling “Clueless” About Money Management

The results of a new poll by Opinion Research Corporation cast a spotlight on what many contend has been a longtime need for greater levels of financial literacy among our population’s young people.  Almost half (49 percent) of teenage respondents say they feel clueless about personal finance, while more than one-quarter (27 percent) say they lack confidence that they’ll have the ability to manage their finances by the time they graduate high school.

The poll was sponsored by TCF Bank, which is diving full-force into the financial literacy movement with a bold objective; namely, to boost the level of financial literacy among more than two million individuals over the next three years.  TCF’s strategy for achieving this goal is to work with EverFi, a leading education technology company focused on teaching, assessing, and certifying K-12 and college students in financial literacy, to provide financial education through EverFi’s portal.  The curriculum is comprised of a broad range of sessions covering many financial concepts, including credit scores, mortgages, savings, budgeting and investments.

In addition to employing EverFi’s portal, TCF also just announced that it is sponsoring a Financial Scholars Program, which is designed to provide teacher-led financial education via the web.  The program is being offered to over 100 high schools.  Given TCF’s holistic approach to financial literacy, and the bank’s belief that financial education is imperative for individuals of all ages, TCF also has launched a new web-based financial education portal that offers money management information, tools and resources to adults.  The initial feedback on the portal, called the TCF Bank Financial Learning Center, has been positive.

To understand why these and other teens feel unsure about their financial education, one need only look to the 90 percent of survey respondents who indicated that they are not being taught what they need to know about budgeting, saving, credit, debt and other essential money management concepts.  This fact is also what largely has been driving the movement among many states to adopt regulations that require financial education classes for high school students in order to graduate.  Financial literacy proponents have long argued that such measures would equip our youth with the skills and resources they need to make better informed financial decisions in all aspects of their subsequent adult, family and professional lives.  The TCF initiatives represent a great start to making this happen.