I could try to establish a sort of analogy between a consistently bad student and how the US population (particularly teenagers and college students) have been acting in the process of realizing and learning how important Financial Literacy is in the post global financial crisis era (an event that many of them didn't experience)... This could lead us to formulate the following question:
Is Financial Literacy still important after the global financial crisis of 2007 - 2008?
Let's see... What has happened 9 - 10 years after a cascade of corporate mistakes, greed and fraud causing that "too big to fail" giants like Lehman Brothers declared its bankruptcy? What is going on when many Americans also went into bankruptcy because of ignorance and greed causing them to lose their homes, jobs and ending up (in many cases) living in the streets? Do you remember that both events were key hallmarks of the global financial crisis in America?
Do you remember those events? No? It's OK if you don't, therefore, it is convenient to share with you a little reminder via first-hand testimonies from Anton R. Valukas (as a Examiner of Lehman´s bankruptcy, he offered an impressive testimony about what he found), average Americans who lost their homes as well as what the subprime crisis meant for many of them:
From a current global perspective, the outlook does not seem very optimistic: last May, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a report addressing the case of teenagers in member countries struggling to understand money matters; in addition, also last May, Professor Annamaria Lusardi published her views as to how young people in America, as they grow older, are struggling to gain financial knowledge. Even though I wouldn't like to continue nagging you with recent events -also according to Professor Lusardi- involving the same difficulties that teenagers in America are facing to understand Financial Literacy, also last April, according to an online survey from Morning Consulting on behalf of the American Bankers Association, a significant percentage of people, assumed that "their own financial literacy skills are good" but in the meantime, a lower proportion of those surveyed perceived that the average American possess "good or excellent" financial literacy.
What does this mean? Well... Maybe you could disagree with my modest perspective but, anyway, here I go: when only few American citizens are "convinced" they are "financially educated", What do they know about their financial "safety"? Do they know what is the meaning of financial safety? How do they know the average American is not? Whether the average American is in fact financially safe or not, I think there's a serious educational problem that deserves an "F" for many Americans particularly, teenagers and college students (in the end, Mr. Crocker is still right about Timmy Turner).
As a consequence, if the average American doesn't care about his financial safety, then the following report makes emphasis about a serious problem: America lack financial awareness...
What does this mean? Well... Maybe you could disagree with my modest perspective but, anyway, here I go: when only few American citizens are "convinced" they are "financially educated", What do they know about their financial "safety"? Do they know what is the meaning of financial safety? How do they know the average American is not? Whether the average American is in fact financially safe or not, I think there's a serious educational problem that deserves an "F" for many Americans particularly, teenagers and college students (in the end, Mr. Crocker is still right about Timmy Turner).
As a consequence, if the average American doesn't care about his financial safety, then the following report makes emphasis about a serious problem: America lack financial awareness...
You may wish to consider the following final idea... Do you deserve an F? No problem if you say yes or no; it's just for your information, consideration and (immediate) action:
Financial Culture / Financial Literacy ©
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