United States
See also: Financial Literacy Curriculum See also: Financial Literacy MonthThe US Treasury established its Office of Financial Education in 2002; and the US Congress established the Financial Literacy and Education Commission under the Financial Literacy and Education Improvement Act in 2003. The Commission published its National Strategy on Financial Literacy in 2006. The Jump$tart Coalition has championed personal financial literacy in the United States since as early as 1995.
While many organizations have supported the financial literacy movement, they may differ on their definitions of financial literacy. In a report by the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, the authors called for a consistent definition of financial literacy by which financial literacy education programs can be judged. They defined financial literacy as “the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively for a lifetime of financial well-being.”
The Council for Economic Education (CEE) conducted a 2009 Survey of the States and found that 44 states currently have K-12 personal finance education or guidelines in place. Due to differing criteria, the Jump$tart Coalition only considers 24 states to have a component of personal financial education required. Results from the Jump$tart Survey of Personal Financial Literacy indicate low levels of financial literacy among American youth.
Additionally, automobile finance companies and retailers provide consumer education through Americans Well-informed on Automobile Retailing Economics.
Also, Northern Illinois University started a campus-wide Financial Literacy Initiative in 2009 with a program called Financial Cents. Financial Cents provides college students at Northern Illinois University with the tools and knowledge needed to make sound financial decisions during their college careers as well as after they graduate. Other public and private universities across the United States have implemented similar financial literacy programs.
Read more about this topic: Financial Literacy
Famous quotes related to united states:
“... it is probable that in a fit of generosity the men of the United States would have enfranchised its women en masse; and the government now staggering under the ballots of ignorant, irresponsible men, must have gone down under the additional burden of the votes which would have been thrown upon it, by millions of ignorant, irresponsible women.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“I thought it altogether proper that I should take a brief furlough from official duties at Washington to mingle with you here to-day as a comrade, because every President of the United States must realize that the strength of the Government, its defence in war, the army that is to muster under its banner when our Nation is assailed, is to be found here in the masses of our people.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“In the larger view the major forces of the depression now lie outside of the United States, and our recuperation has been retarded by the unwarranted degree of fear and apprehension created by these outside forces.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“It was evident that, both on account of the feudal system and the aristocratic government, a private man was not worth so much in Canada as in the United States; and, if your wealth in any measure consists in manliness, in originality and independence, you had better stay here. How could a peaceable, freethinking man live neighbor to the Forty-ninth Regiment? A New-Englander would naturally be a bad citizen, probably a rebel, there,—certainly if he were already a rebel at home.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The veto is a President’s Constitutional right, given to him by the drafters of the Constitution because they wanted it as a check against irresponsible Congressional action. The veto forces Congress to take another look at legislation that has been passed. I think this is a responsible tool for a president of the United States, and I have sought to use it responsibly.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)