Many students complain that they don’t see themselves ever using the skills they learn in certain classes in school. However, this would never be the case with a financial literacy course. Financial literacy includes skills such as personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. In simpler words, a financially literate person knows how to manage their money. There are skills that everyone needs to become familiar with before leaving for college. A required financial literacy course being taught at Flint Hill would be beneficial not only to the students themselves but also to those students’ parents, who want to see their kids grow up to be financially stable and independent.

According to Forbes, almost half of all Americans don’t have $400 saved in the case of a financial emergency. 38% of Americans have credit card debt, 33% of Americans have nothing saved for retirement, and student loan debt from the millennial generation totaled to $1.52 trillion. While money can’t buy you happiness, debt isn’t great either. Many decisions that put people in debt and difficult situations are the result of not knowing any better. 

Learning to budget, save, and invest money early on is a much better alternative to learning from mistakes, which can often continue to affect a person for years. Financial literacy is essential to a good life, and one of the best ways that schools can set their students up for success is to teach a course on it.