Significance of Financial Education

• From 1997 to 2002, Jump$tart saw a steady decline in the scores of teenagers taking its Survey of Personal Financial Literacy among High School Students. The average score was 57.3 in 1997 and dipped all the way to 50.2 in 2002. Scores since have increased to 52.4 in 2006, but that means the average score remains a failing grade (below 60%).

• A survey in the US found that 4 out of 10 American workers are not saving for retirement.

• Nearly a third of high school seniors already use a credit card.

• About half of adults (49%) say they are concerned they have not paid enough attention to managing their finances as they should have and 48 percent are concerned they don't know enough about financial planning.

• Only 1 in 3 teens knows how to read a bank statement, balance a checkbook and pay bills. Only 1 in 5 had an idea how to invest.

• 40 states have personal finance standards or guidelines (up from 34 in 2004), 28 states with standards require them to be implemented, 9 states require testing of student knowledge on personal finance content and 7 states require students to take a personal finance course to graduate.