Financial literacy among teens: what credit unions need to know
Financial literacy is defined as the possession of a set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with their financial resources.
For teens, it's important to learn about finance before they are faced with financial responsibilities as young adults, like paying rent or taking out school loans.
Recent data, however, indicates that despite their interest in financial topics, more needs to be done to help teens become financially literate.
What does recent survey data tell us about teens and financial literacy?
There are 47 million teenagers in North America (Statista)
9 million (approximately 19%) are members of a credit union (Fonolo)
79% don’t have a savings account (Forbes)
87% don’t understand their finances (Forbes)
48% learn about investing from social media (Greenlight)
74% lack confidence in their financial knowledge (Greenlight)
32% don’t know the difference between a credit card and a debit card (NGPF)
75% learn about personal finance from parents and 52% from school (Annuity.org)
73% want more financial education (Greenlight)
With approximately three-quarters of teens saying they don’t understand money and/or wish to learn more about it, clearly there’s a need to provide more financial education to teach teens about money.
What should credit unions do?
Offer a financial education program designed to appeal to your young members. Select a program that covers a wide range of financial topics, is available online, integrates with local school curricula and, above all, is fun. And then let your audience know. Social media is an ideal place to promote financial literacy, which we’ve covered in a previous post and which you can learn more about here.
The bottom line
Credit unions have a unique opportunity to connect with teens through financial education. By teaching young people about managing money and making smart financial decisions, credit unions can help set teens on a path to financial success.
To learn more about our financial education program, It’s a Money Thing, follow this link.
Sources: Annuity.org, Business Wire, Fonolo, Forbes, Greenlight, Investopedia, NGPF, Statista, Statista, WOCCU, World Population Review
Tim McAlpine is the Founder & CEO of Currency Marketing. He is best known for developing the It's a Money Thing Financial Education Program that credit unions from around North America are using to connect with new young adult members. He is also a driving force behind CUES Emerge, an emerging leader program that combines online learning, peer collaboration and an exciting competition component.
