Building Teen Personal Finance Skills a Top Worry for Parents,
Visa Survey Finds
Back-to-School Survey finds “developing good financial
skills” may be a greater concern than “following the
wrong crowd” and “drugs/ alcohol use”
SAN FRANCISCO – August 9, 2005 –Visa
USA, today, released the results of its annual back-to-school
survey which found that a top concern of parents is the development
of their children’s personal money management skills.
According to the July survey of parents of high school students,
developing good personal financial skills and being able to handle
their money (74 percent) ranked ahead of both following the wrong
crowd (58 percent) and drugs/alcohol use (56 percent) in terms
of concerns parents have for their children’s futures. Only
personal safety ranked higher (89 percent).
In response to the need for greater financial literacy among
young people, Visa offers parents, students and teachers a free,
online financial education program called Practical Money Skills for Life. The program is part of Visa’s decade-long, continued
commitment to improving access to financial education for all
consumers.
“These results show that parents understand that developing
good financial habits starts at a young age,” said Rosetta
Jones, vice president, Visa USA. “The financial choices
kids make will not only impact them today, but over the course
of their entire lives. Parents should sit down and talk with their
children about money matters so they will have the necessary tools
needed to become financially responsible and savvy adults,”
added Jones.
Practical Money Skills for Life contains comprehensive, interactive
materials to help parents work with their children to develop
strong financial skills at home, including a Back- to-School Budget
Calculator, which is an effective, hands-on way to teach kids
how to prepare a budget and spend wisely. This is especially important
since 69 percent of parents do not give their children an itemized
budget detailing what they can spend for back to school.
Additional key findings of the survey included:
-
53 percent of parents agree that their child thinks “money
grows on trees.”
-
76 percent of parents surveyed said their high school student
does not have a budget.
-
Over half of the parents surveyed, 63 percent, require
their working teens to save at least some of what they earn.
-
88 percent of parents feel it’s important to monitor
their child’s spending and guide their money use.
-
Only 32 percent of parents said their family will have
an itemized back-to-school budget.
While students learn most of their money management skills
at the kitchen table, the survey also showed that an overwhelming
majority of parents would like to see schools play a part in
this effort. Some 70 percent of parents surveyed said their
child has not had any formal training in money management, either
in school or outside the home. Additionally, 76 percent said
that schools should be required to teach money management skills.
“We need to ensure that personal finance education extends
into the classroom because teaching young adults about the importance
of saving and investing is a dual responsibility, shared by
both parents and educators,” Jones added.
Practical Money Skills for Life also helps give educators
the tools they need to teach practical money management lessons
in their classrooms. With complete lesson plans, the curriculum
includes presentation materials, in-class activities, quizzes
and more. It’s also mapped to state educational standards
ensuring that activities not only teach important life skills
but also keep classes on target to meet state requirements.
“We’ve heard from many parents that they dread
back-to-school shopping, so why not turn this into an educational
opportunity and experience for your teens?,” said Jones.
“While talking about finances is important, there’s
no substitute for real-world experience in becoming disciplined
with money.”
Visa surveyed 1,000 Parents of High School students July 28-31,
2005. To see Visa’s Back to School survey results click
here and to access the Back to School Budget Calculator
click
here.
About Practical Money Skills for Life
The Practical Money Skills for Life curriculum is teacher
tested and teacher approved. At the 2001 National Education
Association Expo, the program was put before teachers to evaluate
and grade. Nearly 100 percent of teachers who reviewed the site
said they approve of the Practical Money Skills for Life
program; 98 percent said they would recommend the site to other
educators, and 94 percent gave the program a "B" or
better. The curriculum currently reaches 2.5 million teachers,
37 million students, and 100,000 schools. Additionally, this
program won the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators
2002 Achievement in Consumer Education Award (ACE) for the best
innovative program for the private sector and was named an “Honorable
Mention” by the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial
Literacy’s 2002 Soaring$tar Award.
About Visa
Visa USA is the nation's leading payment brand and largest payment
system, enabling banks to provide their consumers and business
customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored
to meet their evolving needs. Visa USA is committed to increasing
the choice, convenience, acceptance, and security of Visa payments
for all stakeholders in the payments systems - Members, cardholders
and merchants. Through its 14,000 Member financial institutions,
more than 463 million Visa-branded cards have been issued to
cardholders in the United States. Last year, U.S.-based financial
institutions relied on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to
facilitate $1.3 trillion in transactions with virtually 100
percent reliability.
Worldwide, cardholders in over 150 countries carry more than
1 billion Visa-branded cards, accounting for more than $3 trillion
in annual transaction volume.
Visa offers a trusted, reliable and convenient way to access
and mobilize financial resources - anytime, anywhere, anyway.
# # #
