Financial Literacy

Learning to be good with money is similar to learning to read. It takes time and practice.

You had to learn letter sounds, how letters make words, and how words create sentences in order to read. That's called language literacy. Financial literacy is doing that with money. You learn what the terms mean. You practice using money. You become a money expert.

Right now you might only use money every once in a while. But as you get older, you’ll use it more. How do you know when to spend or when to save? Are you making the right choices? What can you do better with your money? Financial literacy helps you feel confident, avoid mistakes, and make big decisions.

First, try to remember what it was like learning to read for the first time. It was hard, but it got easier as you went. And you still don’t know every word in the world. It can be hard to sound some of them out or know what they mean (like the word cognizant, that’s long and hard and it has a z in it!).

Financial literacy is the same. You start with the basics. After that, you'll keep learning more.

Basics:

• Counting money
• Saving
• Spending
• Creating financial goals

Harder Stuff:

• Paying bills
• Building your credit score
• Long term planning
• Making big purchases
• Being careful with debt

You’ll work on financial literacy your whole life, so don’t worry if it feels hard now. Take your time on the simple stuff and then you can build from there.