About half of all Americans struggle to read at an eighth-grade level. To make matters even worse, only about one-third of all U.S. students can pass a fourth-grade reading proficiency test. All those statistics (and plenty more) are available on The Literacy Project website.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only type of literacy students are lacking. Add poor reading ability to this problem, and the chance of personal success can drop dramatically. We’re talking about financial literacy — the ability to understand and apply basic personal financial skills.
A 2019 AIG survey of over 30,000 U.S. college students found that only 53 percent felt prepared to manage money. Of all the competencies studied — time management, finding resources, staying current with coursework, staying organized, and money management — students rated their financial competence at the bottom (even though almost half reported having at least one credit card).
To help improve these numbers and empower students to control their financial futures, educators can draw on Stukent’s Mimic Personal Finance simulation. This interactive simulation uses decision theory learning and can help students recognize the following three reasons financial literacy is so important.
Financial Literacy Provides Independence
Financial independence can enable those who achieve it to live where they want, drive the car they want to drive, take vacations to places they want to visit, and help provide for their children to attend the schools they choose to attend. It’s tough to reach financial independence, though, without first gaining financial literacy.
That’s why Mimic Personal Finance doesn’t just teach the principles of personal finance. It allows students to experience real-life scenarios. In the simulation, each participant must create a budget and make decisions about purchases. Students get to monitor their (simulated) credit scores, pay monthly bills, and explore potential sources of income.
Financial Literacy Builds Hope for the Future
The global financial environment is constantly changing. Not too many years ago, the word “cryptocurrency” didn’t even exist. Issues like inflation, interest rates, and the price of basic commodities affect us all. Students who know how to identify financial trends, threats, and opportunities are well-positioned to weather financial storms while remembering that all storms pass in time.
By building financial knowledge now, students lay a firm foundation for the world yet to come. The wisdom of leveraging the power of compound interest, for example, can seem like just another dry fact and term to memorize. Students fortunate enough to have access to Mimic Personal Finance, though, don’t just learn the vocabulary — they see the effects of their choices on their net worth and get a look at how those choices affect future financial wellbeing.
Financial Literacy Provides Significant Advantages
A recent study by Capital One found that finances are the most stressful part of life in the United States — beating out politics, work, and family concerns. Only 42 percent of respondents expected to be financially better off in the coming year. And only 16 percent said they know how to improve their credit score. Many don’t have an emergency savings plan, and way too many are already buried in credit card and student loan debt.
Mimic Personal Finance, though, provides students with the advantages of understanding personal finances in order to help alleviate future financial stresses and accumulate savings.
Helping Educators Help Students Help the World
Stukent’s mission is to help educators help students help the world. There may be no better way to do that than by making Mimic Personal Finance readily available to students. It is the only simulation that lets students practice decision-based learning, make real-world financial choices, go beyond theory, and experience in-class consequences.
Don’t wait for someone else to take the lead. Go see for yourself. To learn more and to try out the simulation, visit the Mimic Personal Finance web page and then click the “Schedule a Demo” button at the top right of the page.
