Student Financial Literacy

I know that I'm an early starter when it comes to saving money and I'm hoping that my example can help others become early starters too. When I read the news (okay, I still can't read, but you know what I mean) the numbers for students who understand about finances isn't too good. Here is some information I ran across today:

In a survey conducted by Visa USA, 78 percent of parents said their high school student does not have a budget. And while 62 percent said they require their teens to save at least some of what they earn, more than half (57 percent) place no restrictions on how their children can spend the money they are given...

A national survey conducted last year revealed that the nation's high school seniors scored an average of 52.3 percent when tested about their knowledge of personal finance concepts.

The good news seems to be that more high schools are beginning to offer personal finance classes for the students. That seems to me to be once subject area where you can't go wrong in passing on knowledge. I hope to see more and more articles like the one above and see more parents learn that giving money to their children without also teaching them the responsibilities in how to use it is one of the biggest disservices they can do for them. (wow, I can already go off on a rant at this tender age...kind of scary what I'll be doing in a bit when I can talk)