Financial Literacy

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Did you see the article in this morning’s Wichita Eagle about financial literacy?

It seems that several legislators, led by our own Rep. Melody McCray-Miller, are proposing to put teeth in the 2002 bill that mandated that the public school system teach children how to manage their money.

Glory Hallelujah!

I was taught how to balance my checkbook by my father, but I didn’t learn to manage my money until after my son was born. We used a very simple method: we added up all the bills that came due at regular intervals, divided the total by 52, and had that amount (rounded up to the nearest $10) taken out of my husband’s paycheck and deposited in the credit union run by his employer each week. Then, once a month, we transferred funds out of the credit union and into our checking account and paid whatever bills were due that month.

Simple, right? It worked really well until my husband changed jobs and there was no credit union to make the deduction for us.

Now, you’d think that we would be smart enough (we’re both college graduates, after all!) to make a deposit into a savings account each week, but somehow it never happened. There was always some reason not to make the deposit. Even when we opened accounts in banks that were willing to make deductions for us, we didn’t set up the system again until a few years ago.

We were never in really bad shape financially, but we could have been in much better shape if we’d just used our system consistently throughout the years.

Now imagine a teen-ager who hasn’t been shown how to reconcile a bank statement growing into an adult who has never discussed finances with anyone. Imagine that person being faced with a predatory lender who can play financial footsie with panache. Do you have any doubt why we’re in the financial condition we’re in?

So kudos to Rep. McCray-Miller and the other legislators who are backing her up. And let’s hope that the teachers all over Kansas will follow through on the plan.
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