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Have any of you heard about the new book by Harvard economist, John Y. Campbell, Fixed: Why Personal Finance Is Broken and How to Make it Work for Everyone? I heard him interviewed yesterday on Episode 380 of The Rational Reminder podcast and found myself nodding along in agreement the whole interview. I want to read the book.
Campbell argues that the financial system we all need to navigate fails most people because of needless complexity, costs that are not transparent to ordinary people, and financial products that are byzantine, expensive and unnecessary. He then suggests policies to correct these issues so that capitalism can be truer to its ideals, such as a transparency in pricing, fair competition, and accurate information so consumers can reliably evaluate genuine benefits, costs, and value of complex financial goods and services.
As an educator, one segment especially piqued my interest. Campbell said that it is good to see more high schools teaching personal finance. But how do we do this effectively without practice in the ‘real’ world? By analogy, teaching someone to drive a car using only the classroom setting will not guarantee “knowing” how to drive a car. As with drivers ed, wise personal money management needs to be practiced if it going to be acquired as a habit.
In middle school in the 1970s, I remember practicing writing checks, balancing a checkbook, calculating annual interest rates, and filling out sample car loan applications. Now at my age, coupled with my parents’ guidance, I realize how helpful that was as a foundation.
I am curious how members of this community believe personal finance should be taught to young people. What are your earliest memories of financial education? What age should it start? How can technology or AI simulation help in this process? Clearly, parents are the first step, but what is our common social responsibility?
That’s such a great question, and I think Campbell really nails something that most of us have felt but couldn’t quite explain. The financial system is unnecessarily complicated, and that complexity makes people feel powerless or confused instead of confident. Transparency and simplicity shouldn’t be luxuries—they should be the standard.
I also loved Campbell’s point about learning by doing. Teaching personal finance only in theory is like teaching someone to drive by showing them road signs but never letting them sit behind the wheel. If we want young people to truly “get it,” they need practice—budgeting with a mock income, managing virtual investments, tracking spending in real time, and seeing how decisions play out.
Technology could be a real game-changer here. Imagine AI-powered simulations that let students experience the outcomes of financial choices—like taking out a loan, investing, or saving—without the real-world risk. That kind of “financial lab” experience could build confidence before adulthood.
As for when to start, I’d say as early as possible. Kids already make choices about money in small ways—allowance, saving for toys, etc. If we build on that naturally and keep lessons age-appropriate, by high school they’ll have the mindset and tools to handle real finances.
Parents definitely set the tone, but it feels like schools and communities share responsibility too. Financial education should be a team effort—part of raising capable citizens, not just consumers.
I’m curious how others here first learned about money, and what kinds of hands-on lessons (or tools) you think would help the next generation most.
Carl, this is a great topic. As other readers have commented, there has been a move to bring personal finance education into the schools of some communities. I hope we are seeing its infancy, however, and that it matures into settled necessity for thriving in our modern society.
Still, I’m not sure how to move from didactic to practical learning. One barrier is the adults that are modeling behaviors for the children. Many of the teachers and parents need to enroll in a personal finance course themselves.
A parallel topic to managing money is keeping it. Jim Wasserman covers this in his article on seductive marketing.
https://humbledollar.com/2019/07/terms-of-the-trade/
As with most things we learn from our parents. When I received money gifts my parents encouraged a savings account, and to spend some and save some. Besides that the bank paid me interest on my balance, wow that was like free money. You can learn a lot from a simple savings account. The key for high school and college, is to learn to be responsible with money. Also to know and learn about compounding is your friend and inflation is your enemy. Get a grasp on credit cards, credit scores and mortgages. Work out some real live problems. You may think twice about this statement, $1 saved in the S&P over 60 years turns into $100,000 dollars. Everyone needs to learn retirement is not free, and the sooner you can save a little, will mean a lot many years later. At 80 years old, my medical insurance supplement rose 25% this year! Save as early and often as you can.
I suspect financial education is often a bit like premarital counseling. As a pastor and a Marriage and Family Therapist, I’ve done my share of that, and I’m convinced that almost no one who wants to get married can seriously contemplate all the hard challenges, much less address them in advance.
It’s probably also a bit like teaching the high school football team about CTE caused by repeated subconcussive blows to the head, concussions, and falls. It might be helpful, but good luck!
Had to laugh at the marriage analogy. If we could somehow remove the influence of hormones from marriage decisions, there might be a lot fewer divorces. Although, to be fair, there might also be a lot fewer marriages!
Financial/money “thinking” should be included in the math curriculum in at least middle school/junior high. Percentages, compounding, etc., are incorporated into the word problems and calculation lessons. Then, in their junior and senior years, there should be a mandatory “school of life” course. Mandatory just as American History/Civics is (or at least was). When you graduate, you are prepared to join society as an adult. This School of Life would cover banking, budgeting, investing, insurance, car ownership(mechanical and purchasing options), apartment renting, home ownership, aging, career choices, resume writing, etc. Much of this can be included with post secondary education school choices(trade schools, colleges, military). There are many experienced people in most communities who might offer their time and experience as guest speakers.
At the end of the day, learning to spend less than you make and invest the difference is a lesson that’s hard for many, probably best learned at home, and takes time to master. Until one gets into the virtuous cycle of saving and investing, over time, it’s really hard not to spend it all. I spent it all until I got to about age 26 when my income began to exceed my lifestyle and felt no need to upgrade my lifestyle.
In the olden days we learned how to write checks, and balance checkbooks. I took two years of booking in high school back in the 1950s. Of course, we also learned cursive, which isn’t taught now.😎
my parents didn’t have credit cards or debt or much money
I asked a few of my middle and high school age grandchildren if they were taught about finances. They said yes, but when I asked a few basic questions- I thought were basic anyway – they didn’t know. Not sure if financial literacy is consistently defined.
Here is a link to the NJ school curriculum for financial literacy https://www.nj.gov/education/standards/clicks/finlit.shtml
As a numbers-oriented person, I did not need instruction to balance a checkbook. Yet I’d been a lunch money collector in grade school and that probably helped. My first checking account came with a helpful instruction sheet on how to write checks and fill out deposit slips. The rest of my financial education was self-taught, albeit with a huge amount of example-setting by my parents.
My ten year old grandson is learning cursive writing, I know that because he complains about it…a lot lol
Our grandson in college had a project he needed to ask a woman questions about growing up so he asked Connie. She answered in cursive. He used an AI program to convert it so he could read it.
That’s hilarious. Although it needs to be said, my cursive writing has been compared to a drunk spider walking over a page after being dipped in ink.
Boomer here.
I hated cursive writing. I did what I had to do and no more.
I can still read cursive which helps when Igo through old letters and such.
But in my real life I have ALWAYS printed. I still do.
I will sign my name if I have to do so. Everything else, notes and the like, are printed.
Other than as ‘busy work’ I can’t figure out a use for cursive instruction in the current school curriculum.
My gen Alpha grandson is with you lol
where is the LOL button?!
Well, somehow I think that sort of discipline will be good for him.
Wonderful question. I would love to hear from the elementary and high school teachers, working or retired, because it is they who possess the necessary skills to teach children.
Obviously everything begins at home, children of responsible parents get a head start via good examples set by mom and dad. I do think financial education should be included as a necessary curriculum in schools. Of course, like all subjects taught in schools, some kids will get it and some will not.
There are myriad regulations governing financial products, yet complexity reigns supreme. More and more, it seems like all branches of government are influenced too much by well financed special interest concerns. Changing the financial landscape is an uphill battle.
Financially literate parents will generally produce financially literate children. I guess education should endeavour to provide a baseline financial education for all kids, no matter what their backgrounds.
It’s challenging to navigate personal finance, especially when the financial industry deliberately hides behind complexity to obscure costs and risks.
My grandson’s school offers a good early example: 10 and 11-year-olds run a tuck shop where they handle real transactions, manage float balancing, and deal with actual money in the candy business. This gives them genuine, age-appropriate financial experience.
For older students, I think understanding credit scores and their real-world impact would be invaluable, along with learning credit card terms and the risks of misuse.
An educational software innovation I’d like to see: a virtual environment where students can model real financial decisions at an accelerated pace, like creating an avatar that experiences compressed timelines of financial consequences. For instance, students could see how different choices about student loans, credit cards, or investing play out over simulated years within weeks of classroom time. This would help them understand long-term impacts.
The challenge is making the stakes feel real enough to engage real learning, not just intellectual understanding. Perhaps a merit system where top performers earn rewards like canteen credit or homework passes, something that gives them genuine skin in the game. Even small, tangible consequences could help students internalize lessons , although that could possibly be a step to far lol
Wonderful ideas, Mark, that I think would help considerably!
Per CoPilot, 30 U.S. States now mandate financial education in high school or before.
Frankly, I don’t think it will help much, sadly.