I recently came across an interesting website that happened to be quite an eye opener. The Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy’s website Econ4U has some great stuff on it to help teach others about personal finance and economics. In August, the group, a non-profit dedicated to financial education, realized that most college students can’t answer simple questions about their finances when it conducted a survey of 500 American students.
The findings were:
APR Basics 44 percent didn’t know the APR of their credit card and more than 80 percent didn’t grasp how long it would take to pay it off.
Balancing a Checkbook 54 percent have overdrawn their bank account in the past and didn’t understand the consequences of bouncing a check.
Credit Dependency 64 percent of college students have one or more credit cards and 61 percent of them already have credit card debt.
But it wasn’t all bad. About 60 percent said they keep a budget, 92 percent understand supply and demand and they had positive thoughts about paying off their student loans within 10 years. Take a look at the complete results of the survey.
When it comes to the average American, the group found that only 47 percent know what the Dow Jones Industrial Index is. Also, just 57 percent said their credit scores were the most important thing when trying to get a loan and 48 percent understood the advantages of investing in an IRA.
Another eye opener for me was when I clicked on the “Quizzes” tab. The site has several quizzes to help you see if you understand personal finance and investing. I took the 20-question quiz that covers several areas and realized that I don’t know as much as I thought I did. They also have specific quizzes on credit card debt, company costs, credit ratings, entrepreneurship, wages/benefits, home ownership, investing and savings.
The site also helps to educate you on topics such as writing wills, information on mutual funds, car loans, mortgages, student loans and many others. Check it out. Your quiz scores might surprise you.