Teaching our children financial literacy is essential not only for their well-being, but for ours. A nation of inept spenders does not bode well for any of us. On August 11, 2008, the Wall Street Journal published my one-sentence letter on the topic, which related to an article about teachers unable to handle their own investing. I wrote, "We are entrusting our children to people who can't handle basic investing and, somehow, we wonder why we end up with financially illiterate adults."
Braun Mincher wrote an article advocating for more financial education, and I am pleased to see more attention being given to this topic:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/ymincher;_ylt=Au9.v9TrfeKf7.D7gyr31AADW7oF
Sadly, research shows that financial illiteracy has reached epidemic levels with no end in sight.
I couldn't agree more. No child should graduate high school without understanding, at the very minimum, the impact of interest rates, the role of the Federal Reserve, and the wonders of compound interest.
Update on January 17, 2009: here is a link to my August 11, 2008 letter. I'm not sure if it's a permalink, but it's working for now.
"And if an epitaph be my story, I'd have a short one ready for my own: I had a lover's quarrel with the world." -- Robert Frost
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