Roughly two-thirds of the teens in the United States said they discuss money matters with their parents weekly or monthly, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) financial literacy assessment.
It also found that U.S. students who hold a bank account performed better in financial literacy by over 20 score points than students of similar socio-economic status who do not have a bank account.
PISA is given every three years to 15-year-olds in countries around the world. It also assesses students’ reading, math, and science skills. The latest PISA includes data from 2015.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said teen financial literacy is critical to prepare them for the complex financial choices that they will face as adults.
The CFPB said parents and teachers can help students improve their financial literacy through a variety of online resources. They include Money as You Grow – a site that has activities for parents and guardians to teach children about money at different stages in their development – and a guide for advancing K-12 financial education, which seeks to connect community and education leaders with information, insights, and best practices.
Additional resources include building blocks to help youth achieve financial capability – which can help educators understand the childhood origins of financial capability and well-being, and identify those roots in order to find promising practices – and the Personal Finance Teaching Pedagogy guide for teachers. It identifies teaching techniques and learning strategies to address the three building blocks that develop in childhood and support the development of lifelong personal finance decision-making skills.