Does your child need a bank account? In a word, yes. Learning to manage money may just give her a global competitive advantage over her peers when she becomes a young adult. A recent study suggests that having a bank account boosts financial literacy in teens. This brief video provides interesting details.
Video Transcript
Does your child need a bank account? In a word, yes. Learning to manage money may just give her a global competitive advantage over her peers when she becomes a young adult. A recent study suggests that having a bank account boosts financial literacy in teens.
According to results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), one in five U.S. high school students (22 percent) lack basic financial literacy skills. The study evaluates the financial literacy of teens from 15 countries. China ranked number one overall, followed by Belgium and Canada. Chile, Brazil and Peru ranked as the bottom three.
American teenagers have made no appreciable gains in financial literacy in the three years since the previous PISA in 2012, when the U.S. ranked ninth among the countries studied. The Russian Federation and Italy showed measurable gains in average scores over that time, while Poland, the Slovak Republic, Australia and Spain showed measurable declines.
One data point of the study offers a potential bright spot for American parents. Among U.S. students, 53 percent reported that they have a bank account; and students with a bank account scored on average 42 points higher than students without a bank account. This suggests a simple and practical step parents can take to help boost financial literacy in their children, according to Ted Beck, CEO of the National Endowment for Financial Education.
“Get your child involved with a bank or credit union by having an account and learning to manage it during their teenage years,” he suggests. “We shouldn’t assume kids receive this education in schools. We need to step up and involve our children in regular, meaningful interactions with money.”
If you’d like help setting up an account for your child, talk with your personal financial planner or give us a call at Perspective Financial Services.