TeachME Financial Literacy Information and Resources to Help Your Students
Achieve the New Maine Learning Results Standards
David G. Lemoine, Maine State Treasurer
Why is financial literacy important?
High School Students Most 18-year-olds can
obtain credit cards in their own name.
Credit-card companies have become more aggressive at marketing to young people.
College Students Two-thirds of college
students have a credit card; the average is 3 cards per student.
About 64% pay off the balance each month.
The average credit-card debt for students who carry a balance is $2,200-$2,800.
Source: “Learning, Earning and Investing,” NCEE 2004
The Financial World Has Become More Complex
The Internet has increased the number of financial services offered to consumers.
Credit-scoring technology has improved.
There has been an increase in the number of financial products that are offered.
It’s Hard to Learn What You Are Not Taught
Personal finance is a growing national priority. 40 states (up from 34 in 2004 and 21 in 1998) have adopted personal finance educational standards.*
But young people can’t learn financial skills unless they are taught.
*Source: NCEE 2007 Survey of the States report card
The New Maine Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction
Students draw on concepts and processes from economics to understand issues of personal finance.
(Chapter 132, Section C, Revised Maine Learning Results Standards, Social Studies)
The New Maine Learning Results
Economic Knowledge, Concepts, Themes, and
Patterns (Chapter 132, Section C1)
Pre-Kindergarten-2nd Grade
Result: Students understand the nature of economics as well as key foundation ideas.
Pre-K-2 (continued)
Students must…
- Describe economics as how people make choices about how to use scarce resources to meet their wants and needs.
- Describe how money is earned and managed in order to buy goods and services and save for the future.
Attaining the benchmark Students identify examples of jobs and entrepreneurs
in their community (i.e. teacher, fireman, banker, parents or other family members)
Students understand that grown-ups go off to work each day, and that they work in order to earn money and buy things (such as food, a house, etc.)
Students gain excitement about employment or business
Source: Jumpstart Coalition
“The darkest hour in any man’s life is when he sits down to plan how to get money without earning it.”
- Horace Greely
3rd Grade-5th Grade
Result: Students understand personal economics.
3rd Grade-5th Grade (continued)
Students must…
- Describe situations in which personal choices are related to the use of financial resources and financial institutions including the use of money, consumption, savings, investment, and banking.
Attaining the benchmark Students identify different places where people put
their money (i.e. banks, credit unions, investment firms, etc.)
Students identify different kinds of accounts and their purposes (checking, saving, certificates of deposit, stocks, retirement accounts, college savings, etc.)
Students take a field trip to a financial institution Banker, credit union officer or broker comes to the
classroom and makes a presentationSource: Jumpstart
“A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.”
- Bob Hope
6th Grade-8th Grade
Result: Students understand the principles and processes of personal economics.
6th Grade-8th Grade (continued)
Students must…
- Identify factors that contribute to personal spending and savings decisions including work, wages, income, expenses, and budgets as they relate to the study of individual financial choices.
Attaining the benchmark
Students understand how training and education affect their career choices and income potential
Students understand how to construct a household budget (including expenses and setting money aside for the future)
Source: Jumpstart
More education, more earning potential
Over the course of the average work life, a person with a bachelor’s degree will earn $800,000 more than a person with a high school diploma only.
With each level of education—master’s degrees, doctorates, professional degrees—this earnings “premium” rises higher.
Source: Maine Compact for Higher Education
“The trouble with being educated is that it takes a long time, it uses up the better part of your life, and when you are finished what you know is that you would have benefited more by going into banking.”
- Philip K. Dick
9th Grade-Diploma
Result: Students understand the principles and processes of personal economics.
9th Grade-Diploma (continued) Students must…
- Explain how the study of economics is the basis of individual personal finance management including saving and investing.
- Evaluate different forms of money management, and the positive and negative impacts that credit can have on individual finances, using economic reasoning.
Attaining the benchmark Students understand the reasons for saving for the
short term (an upcoming vacation, an emergency fund for car repairs, etc.)
Students understand the reasons for saving for the long term (college, to buy a house, for retirement, etc.)
Students understand the value of investing and different investment options for different goals
Students understand the time value of money (compounding interest)
Source: Jumpstart
Time Value of Money
Attaining the benchmark (cont.) Students understand different forms of credit and
debt Students understand positive and negative impacts of
a credit card Positive: building a credit history for future Negative: accumulation of debt leading to inability to
make payments; inability to access future credit because of damaged credit history
Source: Jumpstart
“I went to the bank and went over my savings. I found out I have all the money that I’ll ever need…if I die tomorrow.”
- Henny Youngman
Financial Literacy Resources America Saves
(202) 387-6121 www.americasaves.org
American Financial Services Association Education Foundation 919 18th St., N.W. Washington, DC 20006-5503 (202) 296-5544 www.afsaef.org
Resources (continued) Choose to Save® Education Program
Employee Benefit Research Institute/American Savings Education Council 2121 K St., N.W., Suite 600 Washington, DC 20037-1896 (202) 775-9130 www.choosetosave.org
Financial Services Education Coalition Financial Management ServiceU.S. Treasury 401 14th Street, S.W., Room 304D Washington, DC 20024-2106 (202) 874-6908 or fax: (202) 874-7321 www.occ.treas.gov/cdd/finlitresdir.htm
Resources (continued) Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy
919 18th St., N.W., Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006-5517 (888) 45-EDUCATE www.jumpstartcoalition.org
Institute for Financial LiteracyP.O. Box 1842Portland, ME 04104 www.financiallit.org
National Community Reinvestment Coalition Financial Literacy Campaign 733 15th St., N.W., Suite 540 Washington, DC 20005-2129 (202) 628-8866 www.ncrc.org
Resources (continued)
National Council on Economic Education (NCEE)1140 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036-5803 (800) 338-1192 www.ncee.net
National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) 5299 DTC Blvd., Suite 1300 Greenwood Village, CO 80111-3334 (303) 741-6333 www.nefe.org
Participate in our November 27, 2007 Teacher Training Seminar!
The State Treasurer’s Office is hosting a financial literacy training seminar for teachers K-12 on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 presented by the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) and the Jump$tart Coalition.
To register, contact Kevin Thurston, Director of Special Projects at the Treasurer’s Office, at [email protected] or at 624-7476.
For more information…
Visit the State Treasurer’s website at: www.maine.gov/treasurer/teachmefinlit
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