Comments on: Why don't we learn about money in school?

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[...] you mean you never had a cred ed class in school? Okay, me neither. The quality of education these [...]

By: The truth? Still awkward « Well-Heeled, with a mission

The truth? Still awkward « Well-Heeled, with a mission — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:49:23 +0000

[...] finance bloggers are usually all about more openness in money topics (and I’m certainly a fan of financial literacy education), I still feel weird talking about money with people in my non-virtual life. Money still strikes me [...]

By: Boxing » Why don’t we learn about money in school? Well-Heeled with a mission

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By: wellheeled

wellheeled — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 05:06:03 +0000

English Major – I’m not quite clear on the itemize/non-itemize thing – care to enlighten? I guess since I’ll be doing my own taxes next year, I should figure it out!

Toby – thanks for the book suggestion. I’ll keep it in mind.

ispf – thanks for your encouragement.

By: ispf

ispf — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:05:20 +0000

Great post ! I have to agree with Heather though – while I was a student, if my school did offer a non-credit PF course/workshop, I would probably walk right past it and not even notice. There’s got to be some other way to get students involved…

BTW, khudos to you – I think you are well ahead of the game by starting while you are still a student. I only got around to all this after I got a job offer and someone told me to “look at the whole package including the 401K and other things, and not the just the salary” !

By: Toby

Toby — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 15:57:04 +0000

When I was in college they offered a course in personal finance, but I wasn’t about to shell out 4 credit hours of tuition to take it! I simply bought the book for the course and read it myself. Basic personal finance is not rocket science, afterall.

I think Heather’s comment rings true: When you make personal finance education voluntary, the people who don’t really need it (i.e. already know it) will be the only ones who’ll take it.

For those curious about the book, it was:
The Under 40 Financial Planning Guide: From Graduation to Your First House
by Cornelius P. McCarthy

I can only recommend this to someone who has very little personal finance knowledge. If you have the basics down it will be a boring read. However, it does do a good job of surveying all the major facets of personal finance including insurance, credit cards, loans, basic investing, etc.

By: AllFinancialMatters » Blog Archive » JLP’s Weekly Roundup

AllFinancialMatters » Blog Archive » JLP’s Weekly Roundup — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:50:43 +0000

[...] A question I have always had: Why Don’t We Learn About Money in School? [...]

By: English Major

English Major — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 17:03:00 +0000

I also find myself explaining to friends things like the differences between traditional and Roth IRAs, or the reasons to itemize or not itemize your taxes. I never used to know any of that, and it’s kind of awesome (and…kind of makes me feel like a freak, at the same time).

I wouldn’t favor a college course on personal finance, but I’d certainly be in favor of college-sponsored workshops. In fact, I think that’s a great idea.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 01:27:40 +0000

My college actually did offer a non-credit seminar on personal finance-but those who took it didn’t need it, as always.

By: wellheeled

wellheeled — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 21:26:02 +0000

Strangebird – the good thing is that you’re getting started now. but it’s kind of frightening how quickly the pf blogosphere and grab hold of you!

Wendy – I agree the college is mainly for theoretical knowledge, but it’d be a great service to students (like me!) if my school could offer some non-credit seminars on personal finance. I think a majority of students would find it helpful and attend. We have non-credit classes for law school preparation, networking, etc. why not add personal finance to the mix? One of the problems I see with home ec in high school is that it’s not academically rigorous and probably alot of students would pass on it in favor of AP classes. But still I think non-credit classes would be a good idea. Although I don’t know if many 15-year-olds want to sit down for 2 hours to learn about 401(k)s.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 19:54:03 +0000

I think it’s in part because there would be no one to teach the class. They offer this type of course at community colleges, but at a university or liberal arts school, the instructors are all professors of an academic discipline. There simply is no discipline that covers personal finance — it’s actually part of home economics. 50 years ago, balancing a checkbook and making a budget was part of home ec class, along with cooking and sewing. I think that’s still where they belong. College isn’t about learning practical life skills, it’s about theories and papers and pure academia. I graduated college not knowing how to cook, either, but I certainly don’t think it was my school’s responsibility to teach me that.
Note that I’m in full agreement that all people ought to have some kind of pf education — I just don’t think it belongs in college. Partly for the reason described above, and partly because I think the people who don’t go to college deserve to learn about finance too! Plus, since time is our best asset, the earlier you can learn about these things the better. I’d love it if they brought home ec back to high schools. Just think how much you’d already have in your IRA if you’d known to start saving 6 years ago!

By: strange bird

strange bird — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 17:25:09 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. Can I just tell you how clueless I’ve been on the whole subject (and I’ve been in the working world for three years now!)? Actually, I can’t–I was that clueless that I didn’t even know how clueless I was. Reading blogs I found linked on your site actually got me started on realizing this is important to figure out… and here I could have been saving a lot smarter for a few years and making my next big investment, law school, a little easier on myself. Oh well! Better a few years late than thirty years late (or worse, never)!