In what some experts are calling a “landmark” study, new evidence is emerging that will supposedly change how teenagers think about financial decisions, such as credit, payday loans and savings. Now don’t get too excited, because the results are only preliminary for right now, but astounding nonetheless.
Just what are the results? Let’s have it straight from the report:
“Preliminary findings from the study show that parents are poised to be the true heroes when it comes to better money management. APLUS researchers found that parents have more influence over their children’s financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviors than work experience and high school financial education combined.”
Hold the phone, this is earth shattering! Children learn from their parents?!?!? My goodness, where are the news vans, the cameras….this is a big story! Those researchers at the University of Arizona should all win Nobel Prizes or something.
All joking aside, while this may be rather intuitive and probably doesn’t require extensive research to figure out,people are at least figuring it out. High school jobs are not teaching youth how to manage money. High school classes are not teaching youth how to handle money. But their parents are.
What can be learned from this? Many things. First,parents who mismanage their finances will raise children who are likely to mismanage their finances. This cycle will perpetuate itself endlessly unless something is done. Second, nothing is being done outside the home for teenagers to teach them about money.
Thank goodness our high schools still teach teenagers about drama, poetry and art. This knowledge and those skills must be essential to survival in today’s society. Or maybe they’re not! There is a class on Drivers Ed, a class on Health/Sex Ed and no class on Finance Ed. Pretty sad state of affairs.
While we agree that it is up to parents to raise and teach their children properly, we do recognize that not all parents will teach their children as they should. That is why it is essential to have financial education courses in high school so that teenagers who know nothing about managing money can learn about it.
The answer to our country’s financial problems does not lie in regulating the financial sector into oblivion. The answer is in educating the general citizenry on financial matters so that everyone can make financial decisions that are best for themselves. That’s the fastest and best way to prevent people from borrowing payday loans if they cannot pay them back.
