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Strategies & Market Trends : Groundhog Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (2884)	5/2/2002 5:46:24 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6346

Is our children learning? <g> YOUR MONEY HIGH SCHOOLERS FAIL FINANCIAL LITERACY TEST Everyone knows that the best investment for an 18-year time horizon is... U.S. savings bonds. The next best place, of course, is... a savings account. Troubling statements, eh? If you think so, then you'll be even more troubled by the results of a recent survey of high school seniors. One question asked which investment would have the highest growth over the next 18 years. More than 40% chose a U.S. savings bond and 37.5% chose a savings account (the other two choices -- stocks and a checking account -- garnered 18.7% and 3.6%, respectively). The survey was conducted by the Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Literacy, a nonprofit group that receives direction and sponsorship from government entities (such as the Federal Reserve) and financial institutions (such as Visa and Merrill Lynch). This past December, January, and February, 4,024 high school seniors in 183 schools answered 31 questions about personal finances. On average, the students answered 50.2% of the questions correctly. Here's a sampling of the survey's other findings: - Under what circumstances, the survey asked, should you borrow money to buy something? More than a third (37.7%) of respondents chose "when the interest on the loan is greater than the interest you get on your savings." - When asked to complete the sentence, "Retirement income paid by a company is called...," 33.3% answered "Social Security." Slightly more respondents, 35.1%, chose the correct answer ("pension"). - More than 20% of participants thought there was a 5.5% national sales tax, and 17% thought the sales tax is deducted from paychecks. So what will it take to uncloud the minds of America's future? As they say, clarity begins at home. If you have kids, teach them about money, early and often. (Here are 10 ideas.) Also, encourage your kids to manage their own dough. Students who don't have a savings or checking account scored lower on the financial literacy test. fool.com Even if you don't have kids, prod your local schools to incorporate personal finance education into the curriculum. As it is, less than 10 states require it. (What is your state doing about it?) According to Dara Duguay, executive director of Jump$tart, federal funds exist for this type of education, thanks to recent legislation. Schools just need to take advantage of it. lnksrv.com