NEW ORLEANS – From Fidelity Bank:
With stay-at-home orders in place and schools switching to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 crisis, most parents are spending time keeping their kids up to date with schoolwork. Fidelity Bank is encouraging parents to spend time teaching their kids how to manage their money. The bank has released Financial Literacy Educational Resources for kids of all ages. The resources are divided into levels from pre-K to second grades, third to fifth grade, sixth to eight grades and ninth to 12th grades.
Interested parents can visit bankwithfidelity.com/finlit, identify and appropriate grade level and click the corresponding link. Parents and students can also download the Student Guide and review it solo. There’s also a Teacher Guide with slides to help educators and parents discuss the concepts, and the website offers convenient answer guide for all of the exercises. The Educator Guide provides additional support on how to present the materials with additional resources at the end of each chapter.
Despite the U.S. owning the world’s largest economy, the Standard & Poor’s Global Financial Literacy Survey ranks the U.S. No. 14 when measuring financially literate adults in the country. Yet another study shows that the U.S. is experiencing downward trend in financial literacy. In 2018, 34% of individuals correctly answered four out of five financial questions, down from 42% in 2009 and 37% in 2015 according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.’s Investor Education Foundation.
“Financial literacy is very important in all aspects of life from your career, family, education, investing and more, but sadly many Americans don’t have a strong grasp of the concepts” said Fidelity Bank President and CEO Chris Ferris. “Our new homeschooling era during the COVID crisis is an opportunity to get the Financial Literacy Educations Resources to children via their parents and involve them at an early age so they’re more likely to have a grasp of solid financial practices as they become adults.”
Fidelity Bank has been working with many New Orleans-area schools since 2016 using the curriculum made available today via their website.
The goal is to engage children in financial literacy at all stage of their childhood so they are better prepared to manage their finances as adults and make better decisions for themselves and their future families.