April is Financial Literacy Month, highlighting the importance of improving financial knowledge for both adults and children.
Many financial institutions, organizations, and even public figures (like Jennifer Hudson and former NFL player Brandon Copeland) are promoting financial education.
Many of these resources are free and aim to build financial skills at any age. Taking even small steps today can lead to more responsible financial behaviors in the future.
Jumbo Rate News JRN 43:13½
How Financially Literate Are You Really?
April is Financial Literacy Month and there is no better time to assess how financially literate we are and, equally important, how financially literate are we raising the next generations.
Bear with us for a moment now as we begin today with something that’s difficult to conceptualize, regardless of age. This chart shows how three simple zeros at the end of a number can totally alter its meaning.
| Seconds | Approximately: | ||
| 1 thousand | 1,000 | = | 17 minutes |
| 1 million | 1,000,000 | = | 11½ days |
| 1 billion | 1,000,000,000 | = | 32 years |
| 1 trillion | 1,000,000,000,000 | = | 31,797 years |
Now, trying to comprehend the fact that U.S. household debt is at a record $18.8 trillion, might be a bit more meaningful.
Credit Card balances alone are $1.28 trillion. The source for both statements is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Q4’2025.
Those are staggering amounts, difficult for adults to imagine, let alone children.
During this Financial Literacy Month of April, we’d like to do our part to help. We know that financially capable children usually grow up to be financially secure adults. But how can we raise financially savvy children when the adults they emulate may not be financially savvy themselves? Bauer wants to help make more of our population (children and adults) financially capable. We are not the only ones, far from it.
In fact, last month, two-time GRAMMY® Award-winner, Jennifer Hudson, teamed up with 3½-Star Credit One Bank, Las Vegas, NV (25620) to launch a new (and FREE) educational card game, Cards on the Table, to raise awareness about credit cards and credit education. It’s one of the tools she used with her own son, David, to help build good credit habits. With characters like “Max Out” and “Miss Payment”, the game is fun, engaging and, above all, educational.
If you prefer sports to music, you may enjoy former NFL great Brandon Copeland (AKA Professor Cope) in his video series (done in association with Kiplinger), COPE’ing WITH MONEY. Start with How to Talk About Money With Your Children and proceed from there.
We are delighted to see celebrities taking up this cause and these are two great resources, but there are many others. In the past, we have sent you to federal agencies and financial institutions. They are still available, but today there are more resources available than ever before. One foundation we can thank for that is the APEF (American Public Education Foundation).
Since 2019, APEF has issued a biennial letter grade assessment of each state’s K-12 financial education. (You may be surprised to learn where your state falls.) Assessing the problem and giving it a grade is just the first step. But this initial assessment gives key indications of what is (or may be) missing, thereby offering paths to remediation.
“Financial Illiteracy”, says APEF, is “an American Epidemic”. The solution is education. Since APEF began assigning letter grades, 35 states have managed to bring their grades up, but there is still a long way to go. That’s where APEFed comes in.
If there are children (or adults) in your home who might benefit, we encourage you to visit APEFed’s animated video series “The Adventures of Miles & Captain Cashflow”. New adventures come out every month and they are also available on YouTube.
These are all great resources for children and adults to become better at managing money. It doesn’t matter where you choose to start, just start. The simple steps you take today will help create more responsible consumers tomorrow. That is good for everyone.