The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) announced today that it is actively seeking elementary educators to participate in a pilot project that will teach the ABCs of personal finance. DFI plans to introduce the award-winning Money Savvy Kids Basic Personal Finance Curriculum to 50 public school second grade classrooms across the state. Washington State’s pilot will be the most expansive project of its kind in the nation.
The Money Savvy Kids Basic Personal Finance Curriculum is an eight-week program that helps students learn the essentials of money management – saving, spending, donating, and investing. The program takes these sophisticated financial concepts and introduces them at a level that is understood and retained by children. The Department will supply 50 classrooms with curriculum materials and will offer training sessions in August 2004 in Seattle, Yakima, and Spokane for the selected teachers. The pilot project will measure the impact that introducing personal finance at school has on children and their families.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to empower students and their families to take control over their financial lives, and their futures,” stated Helen Howell, Director of DFI. “Establishing sound financial habits early in life is so important.”
Money Savvy Generation was founded in 1999 by the husband and wife team of Michael and Susan Beacham. After working in the financial services industry for 18 years, the Beachams became painfully aware of the difficulty that many people have grappling with the concept of personal financial management.
"We are eager to launch this pilot program with the Washington State DFI. Statistics show that the average U.S. student who graduates from high school lacks basic skills in the management of personal financial affairs. Many are unable to balance a checkbook, and many begin amassing credit card debt, setting a pattern for life,” said Susan P. Beacham, CEO and founder of Money Savvy Generation. “The key to financial education is to start early, before these bad habits are cemented during the teen years. Parents instinctively prepare kids for their first day at school, their first date, and even religious milestones, but they struggle with how to prepare children for this most basic and important life skill – managing money wisely."