I saw a great article about teaching children about finances:
The Smart Way to Teach Children About Money
"We focus on teaching finance in school when regular math is much more effective at helping children manage money."
"“A lot of decisions in finance are just easier if you’re more comfortable with numbers and making numeric comparisons,” says Mr. Cole.
Without strong math skills, he says, people tend to use more emotional ways to invest, spend or save their money. What’s more, people with less math experience make worse financial mistakes with issues like compounding or underestimating how quickly interest accumulates."
I can see that it would be hard to make better financial decisions without math skills.
Both my kids are (very) strong at math and I try to apply that to the real world however I can. Which has led me to comment over the years that like my 8yo had more money sense than most adults. Anyway, when I discuss credit cards with them they look incredulous. You know, like why would anyone pay 30% interest on a purchase?? I always thought it was somewhat genetic or learned, but it is interesting to think that maybe their math skills are also a LOT of it. That an 8-year-old might be horrified by the idea of high-interest credit card debt simply because they understand the math.
The above article basically said that the personal finance education just isn't working. Really interesting.
February 5th, 2015 at 09:51 pm 1423173091
February 5th, 2015 at 10:12 pm 1423174337
February 5th, 2015 at 10:28 pm 1423175326
February 5th, 2015 at 11:02 pm 1423177323
There is Excel, there is a calculator on any phone or computer, and anything like compound interest or amortization calculations are a simple google search away. With current availability of free tools that will instantly run any calculation you need, I don't think lack of advance math stills is at the root of this problem.
February 5th, 2015 at 11:15 pm 1423178146
February 5th, 2015 at 11:25 pm 1423178743
February 6th, 2015 at 02:42 am 1423190537
I'm just glad I woke up when I did ...
February 6th, 2015 at 06:23 pm 1423247033