Financial Literacy: Making Sense of Dollars and Cents

The absence of financial literacy can lead to making poor financial decisions that can have adverse effects on the financial health of an individual. The advantages or disadvantages of variable or fixed rates on financial services is an example of an issue that will be easier to understand if an individual is financially literate. In 2003, the U.S government launched the Financial Literacy and Education Commission. The office is responsible for having resources available for individuals who want to be financially literate.

Another resource for entrepreneurship and financial literacy information is the Kauffman Foundation.

Thanks for a great article.
Many of the habits and beliefs around money are developed in early childhood in the home. Which is why we believe that Financial Education should begin before high school.
A great range of resources for financial literacy for kids have a look at The Financial Fairy Tales (www.thefinancialfairytales.com)

We recently launched a website www.iaam.com, The Teen Entertainment & Life Skills Multimedia Network just to address the current void in life skills for teens. If our children do not learn about money, career, health and lifestyle early in life then they end up with debt, undecided majors and unhealthy lifestyles. We take 12 years to teach math & science in our classrooms but we don't spend same time to prepare our children for life skills. As a parent I took the step to create a positive media platform to address this issues by using multimedia, entertainment and interactive format to inform teens. Teachers can use our site to show the positive message we offer and use the multimedia like comics and videos to provide important life skills to the students. It is absolutely free for Teacher, Parents & students.
Malini
www.iaam.com

I made a powerpoint that I show the students teaching the financial value of an education. I also go over counting money as I have found that students in some grade levels (5th grade on up) don't remember how to count coins and dollars. I then teach them how to count change correctly. Then we go into the basics of savings accounts, checking accounts and credit. I use web sites for all of this that I have on the delicious account for the school.

http://delicious.com/lairdleopard/Finance

A penny saved is a penny earned," said Benjamin Franklin more than 200 years ago. Franklin's wisdom holds true just as much today as it did then. Though it can be a difficult concept for adults to abide by, it is one we can begin instilling in our children at an early age. Teaching the concepts of earning, spending, saving, borrowing and sharing sets the stage for a lifelong appreciation of money.

A situation in which bank runs are widespread is called a systemic banking crisis or just a banking panic. A situation without widespread bank runs, but in which banks are reluctant to lend, because they worry that they have insufficient funds available, is often called a credit crunch. In this way, the banks become an accelerator of a financial crisis.

Thanks for the article.

I run the Financial Tales blog, http://www.financialtales.com , and wanted to offer a few of my Financial Tales, written specifically for your audience, as lessons.

If there is anything I can do to promote or help, let me know.

Thanks.