New FICO Study: More Credit Lessons, Less Chemistry in High School Classrooms, Americans Say

In This Article:

Most Americans Think Their Current Financial Situation Would Improve If They Had Access to More Personal Finance Resources and Education

BOZEMAN, Mont., September 24, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FICO (NYSE: FICO)

Highlights:

  • Most Americans (79%) think high schools should offer financial education.

  • More than one in four (28%) members of Gen Z do not consider themselves financially literate; significantly higher than Millennials (20%), Gen X (19%) and Baby Boomers (10%).

  • 74% of Americans think their current financial situation would improve if they had access to more personal finance resources and education.

Move over Bunsen burners and ancient civilizations, adults in the U.S. think lessons on credit scores and money management are one of the most useful subjects to learn in school.

A new study by global analytics software leader FICO found that 3 in 5 Americans (60%), including 50% of Gen Z (ages 18-27), believe personal finance is one of the most useful subjects in adulthood that can be taught in high school – more so than social studies (40%), science (37%), foreign languages (26%), physical education (23%) and art (15%). In fact, only math (66%) and English (65%) came in higher for subjects most useful in adulthood.

Nearly three in five Americans (59%) think K-12 schools should be most responsible for teaching people how to manage their finances and the majority (79%) think personal finance skills should be part of the high school curriculum. But less than half of Americans (46%) say they actually learned personal finance skills in their high school classroom.

"Those gaps help explain why financial literacy remains a long-standing challenge," said Jenelle Dito, senior director of Client Services at FICO. "We found that more than one in four members of Gen Z does not consider themselves financially literate. That’s significantly higher than members of the Millennial (ages 28-43), Gen X (ages 44-59) and Baby Boomer (ages 60-78) generations."

"It’s particularly alarming considering that Americans almost universally believe financial literacy is important for achieving financial stability and that access to more education could help them improve their current financial situation. Yet, a quarter of Gen Z adults say a lack of personal finance skills has prevented them from achieving their financial goals over the past year," she added.

Nearly all (98%) Americans – including 99% of Gen Z adults – believe financial literacy is important for achieving financial stability. What’s more, nearly three-quarters (74%) of Americans think their current financial situation would improve if they had access to more personal finance resources/education. That figure is even higher among Gen Z adults, with 9-in-10 (90%) reporting so.