Back when I was taking my one day workshops to high schools all across my state, it was so surprising to me to see how inconsistent financial education was. In one school I visited, money was only taught as a remedial math course. Another school told the math teacher who wanted to teach money that it wasn’t rigorous enough. At yet at another school, one of the three business elective teachers snuck it in to her curriculum. 

Now that I work with families all across the states I see the inconsistencies continue. I have worked with one client whose school does require that their students take a personal finance class! Some clients have had the option to learn about money through electives. And yet others have no access to financial education at all. 

It is shocking to me because money is something that we all interact with on a daily basis. In addition, one of the first things we ask young people to do when they become adults is a major financial decision - college. 

This is why including financial education in my programs is so important to me.

When conducting career exploration, understanding what kind of lifestyle a salary will provide is important. When considering financial assistance for higher education, understanding interest rates for loans is important. When taking our first jobs as teenagers, understanding basic money management can have a bigger impact on the future than we realize. When learning how to manage our money, understanding that there are different types of income and how to utilize them is important. 

But here’s something we need to keep in mind: Learning how to manage our money is only part of the story. What we think and how we feel about money has a huge impact on the actions that we take with our money. What we think and how we feel will determine if we take the management steps that we learn. 

Preparing young people to make wise financial decisions in their future requires educating them about money management as well as helping them to grow a positive money mindset. 

I cover this in my career exploration program Life Quest®. But now I go into even more depth with my Money Mindset and Management course. Wayfinding College asked me to expand the money module of Life Quest® for their students and opened up the course to any other teen or college student who wants to take it with us. 

To learn more about how your teen can join us and what they will learn, click here. 

What has your money education journey been like? What is your teen’s money education? What is your teen’s money mindset?