Financial literacy is a rising problem with American youth.
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| Currently, only 15 states require a course with personal finance content in high school, and only 13 require students to take a personal finance course to graduate. The consequences of ignorance are drastic, as a lack of knowledge of basic finance—saving, loans, debt, and retirement—is positively linked to excessive debt. It is no surprise then that the number of 18-24-year-olds declaring bankruptcy has increased 96 percent in 10 years; and in 2002, more people filed for bankruptcy than graduated from college.
While our public schools face major funding cuts and operate on tight budgets, they have focused on the bare bones of education. But financial literacy, though a buzzword, is not a priority. It must become one: it is a critical tool of life students need to succeed beyond the classroom in the real world. |
We Offer a Solution
| Moneythink offers ten week financial literacy and entrepreneurship courses that focus on building critical life skills like money management, leadership, and goal setting. The courses are taught by undergraduate college students who are mentors, not teachers, and whose privileged position allows them to transcend the age barrier to build a relationship of trust.
We’re about youth empowerment. We give our students the tools with which they can build their own future. |
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The Moneythink Strategy
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Students are taught by the same team of mentors for the entire duration of the program. These bright undergraduates strive to connect to their students, getting to know their personalities, hopes, and backgrounds. The result is learning through conversation and trust, not lecturing and textbook activities. |
| Students build self-confidence as they acquire the tools to succeed. They are challenged to set a higher goal, reach out to new connections, and build a better company. They do all the work themselves- we simply put them in an environment with the support to believe in themselves. |  |
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Learning and achievement is impossible if one doesn’t first feel a sense of direction. Our goal-setting program helps students motivate themselves by first writing down clear aims, and then applying the new knowledge directly to moving them down the path to achievement. |
| In our entrepreneurship program, each student plays a key role in their company team. Students have to work together to guide their group to a common vision, and be able to effectively present that vision while speaking publicly at the year end business plan competition. |  |