Financial ecucation in schools? And why the lack of it buggs the hell out of me.

[Kevin Harrison]

This a topic my family and I have discussed quite a bit and that bugs the hell out of me. Why is it that in schools nowadays we make our children learn 100's of years of history and complex mathematics that few outside of certain jobs will ever use? But when they graduate high school most kids cannot explain how compound interest works, or how to buy a car, or a house, or what a good interest rate on a loan is? Why don't we explain the meaning of a credit score more than just "you need to have a good one"? I was almost 20 before I realized how important a good credit score was, thank god I hadent messed mine up too bad by then.

Point and case: When my unit got back from Iraq, we all had quite a bit of cash in our pockets from a year of hazard pay and no taxes with not much to spend it on. Kids were going out and putting huge down payments on things like G35's and 72" TV"s that barely fit into their rooms.  None of them realizing that interest on a loan shouldn't be 20-25%.

You cant make this up, about 6 months later you saw people returning their TV's to Rent-A-Center and cars getting repo-ed  outta the parking lot.

We as a nation are raising a generation that has no idea how money works and that scares me. It should scare you too.

Are you ready for when this generation takes over this country and starts making the financial decisions? 

[Stephanie Dobbs]

I am a Maryland resident and education about finances are very important to me, as I am restoring my credit currently and have researched plenty about the subject to make sure I don't get into such a bad position again. My husband and I just yesterday talked about teaching our daughters the value of money and how it works, to ensure their future does not start as rough as ours did due to our genuine ignorance.