Financial education is not something that comes to mind when talking about quality education.
While an important topic, financial education has proven to be taught best when youngsters come to direct contact with it. There are certainly benefits and detriments to giving our children financial education at a certain age but how does it all fit into the big picture?
All of the youngsters will soon grow up and have their own youngsters to deal with, but the question remains – does financial education prepare them for the future or is it just another check in a box?
Considering the Cons of Not Doing It
Before we head into the benefits of financial education, it’s important to consider the cons of not giving the youngsters a proper education about it. What are the kids of today going to do tomorrow once they are faced with loans, taxes, bills, monthly revenue and payment reports that will keep piling up whether they want to or not?
Not giving them proper financial education would be very devastating for their future. They would be completely unprepared for anything that’s coming their way in regards to first financial steps toward adulthood.
While it may be important to teach them about finance in an approachable and step-by-step way, it’s also important who teaches them about such topics.
Close relatives will only familiarize them with paying bills or tax returns as much as they themselves know about them. It’s up to the teachers and specialized experts to pass this knowledge down through downscaling and evening of the playing field.
Younger Point of Entry
The truth is that today’s youth has a more lenient and approachable way of acquiring pocket money than ever before. Getting a weekly or monthly allowance, working part-time or as a freelancer will get them all the money they would ever need at their age. Given the fact that our youngsters probably have more money than they are letting us know, it’s important to educate them about proper use of said money.
Going back to our own childhood, it’s easy to understand that children don’t have a clear understanding of what money and finance actually represents. To them, it may be a simple exchange of currency for their favorite snack or a new game, without any complex operations that actually come into play in that exchange.
A younger point of entry into the financial world means that children should get all the help they can get in managing their own pocket money and seeing the broader financial picture. Only then will they get a better perspective of what that piece of paper in their hand actually represents.
Looming Independence
Coupled with the fact that youth is more open to managing their own money it’s no wonder that many of them will soon come to terms with a form of personal independence. While smaller children are nowhere as susceptive to this kind of thinking, teens and adolescents are much more likely to stop asking money from their parents at a certain point.
They won’t indulge in any form of criminal activity, however, but find ways to earn their own money to manage through part-time work. Financial education comes as a must for these kids and teaching them about proper revenue management early on can have a significant influence on their further development. Youngsters might even be prone to buying things we are not aware of that are completely safe and useful to them personally.
These items can range from books, snacks, short trips, online services such as paper writing platforms such as resumes.expert and others. Youngsters are far more likely to spend money on a professional writing platform than something illegal that can get them into trouble – that is a picture of the world we live in today.
Student Loans
The hard truth that comes right after high school is over is the impending arrival of student loans. Chances are that your child won’t be able to finance its own university education and you will have to seek loans in order to compensate for the costs. As a good parent you will do just that, but how will your child react to that?
If financial education is something that came naturally during their years of education, they will do everything they can to help you out and even seek part-time work. Student loans are the first and hardest punch in the gut for any youngster who is fresh out of high school. By implementing proper financial aid in an institutionalized environment, we can alleviate these growing pains and prepare our children.
Knowing Their Place
Lastly and sadly, not every youngster is in the same position as their friends and schoolmates. Financial education is essential for young people to come to terms with their own family’s financial situation and make the most of it. By knowing what their options are, youngsters can apply what they have learned in the most useful way.
Young people don’t need truckloads of money in order to be happy and successful down the line. Knowing where they stand and what prospects does the future hold for them is essential for their happiness. Most of all, it allows them to map out their future in a realistic and doable way that takes time and effort but gives them hope for the future.
Final Words
With all that said, financial education proves to be an essential tool in building a better future alongside our youngsters. Given everything we know from our years of experience, we are able to conduct proper educational programs and teach them everything they will need down the line.
In doing so, we will build a generation of young people that takes on the world in a much more prepared state than we used to do. If such action repeats a few generations down the line, who knows what the state of financial education will be.