The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance

Survey: Colorado Teens Want To Know More about Personal Finance but Have Few Opportunities To Learn

Denver, Colorado (PRWEB) May 14, 2009 -- A recent survey of Denver-area high school students shows that nearly half want to know more about personal finance, but less than one in 10 has taken a class on the topic. Nearly one in five respondents indicated they don't know anything about personal finance.  The survey of more than 500 high school students was conducted by Joshua Holmberg and David Bruzzese as part of ongoing research for their book, "The Teen's Guide to Personal Finance: Basic Concepts in Personal Finance That Every Teen Should Know." The surveys were conducted earlier this year at personal finance presentations the authors gave at several area high schools.

"Teens with no knowledge of personal finance grow up to be adults with no knowledge of personal finance. We're trying to reach youth at the point when they have the potential to earn money and begin making financial decisions that can impact the rest of their lives," said Bruzzese.  Financial education opportunities for Colorado teens will increase as mandatory financial literacy requirements for public high school students go into effect in 2010.

When asked which financial topics they were most interested in learning about, 64 percent of respondents ranked saving money among their top two choices, followed by investing at 49 percent, and tracking spending at 48 percent. Not surprisingly, only 12 percent ranked retirement among their top two choices.  More than half the respondents indicated that having enough money to have fun and buy the things they want was most important, compared to equal numbers, 23 percent, who indicated either saving for a car or saving for college as a top choice of what to do with money. Only three percent of students considered saving for retirement to be most important.

"Teens in Colorado overwhelmingly want to learn about personal finance, yet without educational opportunities, they will continue to see money primarily as a means of instant gratification," said Holmberg, "We want to help teens understand the basics of personal finance so they can avoid the financial pitfalls that so many of us have experienced. If you look at what's happening in the economy, it's clear that individuals' bad financial decisions, which may be attributed, in part, to a lack of knowledge, will continue to have negative repercussions."

The personal finance seminar Holmberg and Bruzzese developed for teens has been delivered to more than 1,000 Colorado high school students. Survey results will be used to tailor the seminar to better meet the needs of students and educators. Complete survey results are available at http://www.theteensguide.com/survey.

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More Information

The authors are available for media interviews.  Please call (303)731-6974 or write to info@theteensguide.com