Personal finance is grossly undervalued in our education system.
Without financial inclusion, those in poverty are left struggling to develop sustainable, favorable financial habits and skills.
They are left increasingly vulnerable to predatory practices and fraud.
Agency and mastery over one’s financial health begins with authentic opportunities to engage and reflect.
The Finance Lab builds inclusive financial communities in low-income high schools.
Over the course of a 3-year fellowship, our students open and manage checking and savings accounts, 529 college savings plans, individual investment accounts, and retirement accounts.
Our students receive personalized mentoring from financial services experts to support them in learning sustainable financial habits based on their personal background, goals, and risk tolerance.
From balancing checking accounts to filing taxes and funding college, our students are given practical opportunities to learn from mistakes and overcome challenges.
To provide students from underprivileged communities with a personalized, principled, and experiential financial education.
To guide students from historically marginalized communities toward lifelong, sustainable financial well-being. We work to end cyclical poverty, one family at a time.
Our public education system throughout the majority of the U.S. provides no equitable opportunities for students to gain personal finance knowledge and/or skills. We teach everything from health and physical education to language arts and math, but we leave our students to fend for themselves when it comes to everything from filing taxes and managing a budget responsibly to understanding debt and affording post-secondary education.
“Only about 1 in 20 students from low-income backgrounds (outside of the five states with mandated personal finance education standards) attend high schools with a personal finance requirement.” - Next Gen Personal Finance
“There is a sizeable difference in financial literacy between those with $50,000 or more in household income compared with those whose household income is less than $50,000.” - The Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center
This gap in education contributes to socio-economic, health, and occupational injustices related to poverty. It’s a social justice issue.
“Stress about money and finances appears to have a significant impact on many Americans' lives. Some are putting their health-care needs on hold because of financial concerns. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans say that they have either considered skipping (9 percent) or skipped (12 percent) going to a doctor when they needed health care because of financial concerns. Stress about money also affects relationships: Almost a third of adults with partners (31 percent) report that money is a major source of conflict in their relationships... Also troubling are the disparities in stress exposure: women, parents, younger people and those living in lower-income households all report higher levels of stress than others.” - American Psychological Association
It’s unacceptable for us to continue to neglect the financial needs of under-served and historically marginalized communities, leaving them continually susceptible to predatory lending and banking practices.
Studies have shown that students with between $1-$499 in a college savings account are four times more likely to attend college and three times more likely to graduate. Our fellows become named beneficiaries of 529 accounts during their 10th grade year. Access to a college education means access to a greater variety of higher wage employment opportunities.
In a field as complex as personal finance, students must have the opportunity to learn by doing. In The Finance Lab, our students are immersed in a curriculum of consistent reflection, discourse, goal setting, and financial analyses. Students learn to navigate through the financial community as they receive personalized advising in opening and managing checking and savings accounts, 529 accounts, brokerage accounts, (Roth) IRAs, credit cards (if desired), and filing tax returns.
Our fellows develop their financial acumen within a diverse financial community, both inside and outside of the classroom. Fellows develop personal plans with financial services professionals, visit with guest speakers, and engage with peer, parental, and community advocates. Our community focuses on engaging every student in honest dialogue about personal finance.
