SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in June requiring high schoolers to take a financial literacy course to graduate. The semester-long course will be offered by the 2027-28 school year and make it a requirement by 2029-30.
ABC10 spoke with educators about why financial literacy matters and the lessons everyone can learn when it comes to being smart with money.
“I’m very excited to learn about managing all of it and as I get older, getting a job and having to take care of taxes,” said student Hannah Ferrebee.
Student Caleb Love echoed Ferrebee's sentiment.
“Learning about money and the economy will help me, especially after I’m 18 and I get out of college and stuff because college is expensive,” said Love.
Curious minds and enthusiastic teachers like Ellie Valencia at Sierra High School in Manteca are helping students prepare for their financial futures.
“Financial literacy can set them up with a good foundation for possibly saving for retirement or future education, maybe opening up a business in the future,” said Valencia.
Research shows the need for financial literacy is great. One survey by EverFi shows high school juniors and seniors nationwide have surprisingly low levels of financial understanding — 27% reported being ready to estimate what their monthly payments might be after college, 32% felt they could read or understand loan offers and repayment information and 47% said they understand how to read a paycheck and determine net pay.
“Learning financial literacy is like learning a new language,” said UC Davis economics professor Derek Stimel.
Stimel recommends starting small, like knowing basic financial terms, understanding what a credit score means and who is a beneficiary.
“At lot of times it’s the basic things,” said Stimel. "It's learning how to have a budget, what do I have to spend in a month? What are my expenses? Am I living within my budget?"
Also, consider your savings and avoid bad debt.
“A lot of times we think the stock market or the financial markets in general can be very scary, but the sooner you expose yourself to them and learn about them, the less scary they become,” said Stimel.
Teens and young adults should be careful of student loan debt. High schoolers and college age people get bombarded by student loan offers that could be confusing to navigate. You don’t want to sign up for a bad loan you don’t understand.
“I want them to understand the value of money, how it can affect them as an adult and really give them a good foundation to prepare them for that,” said Valencia.
Other financial pitfalls students can fall into are getting into credit card debt and not being able to pay it back, then having to default, which hurts credit score.
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