In case you missed it, April was Financial Literacy Month.
So did I and I must admit that I wasn’t even aware that it existed until I saw a recent survey by LIMRA. The survey in the form of a quiz found that A Third of Americans Fail Financial Literacy Quiz.
No surprises there. I’m sure those of us who regularly communicate with employees have anecdotal evidence galore to that fact.
The Federal government is certainly aware of the problem. Title V of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, known as the Financial Literacy and Education Improvement Act, created the Financial Literacy and Education Commission.
The Commission is comprised of more than 20 Federal agencies and bureaus charged it with coordinating federal efforts and developing a national strategy to promote financial literacy in America.
The Commission’s website, MyMoney.gov, provides information from these Federal agencies and Bureaus designed to help individuals make smart financial choices.
But those resources are available online. In our world, we have a “teachable moment” (the time at which learning a particular topic or idea becomes possible or easiest).
That is, of course, the workplace. For our firm, our workplace education efforts have been in a 401(k) environment. For other advisors it might be the same plus, perhaps, educational efforts for health insurance and voluntary benefits.
Maybe our sometimes lack of success is grounded in financial literacy, or a lack thereof.
Do we have to wait until next April?