New FICO Study: More Credit Lessons, Less Chemistry in High School Classrooms, Americans Say

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09/24/2024 - 08:00 AM

Most Americans Think Their Current Financial Situation Would Improve If They Had Access to More Personal Finance Resources and Education

BOZEMAN, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FICO (NYSE: FICO)

Highlights:

Most Americans (79%) think high schools should offer financial education.
More than one in four (28%) members of Gen Z do not consider themselves financially literate; significantly higher than Millennials (20%), Gen X (19%) and Baby Boomers (10%).
74% of Americans think their current financial situation would improve if they had access to more personal finance resources and education.

Move over Bunsen burners and ancient civilizations, adults in the U.S. think lessons on credit scores and money management are one of the most useful subjects to learn in school.

A new study by global analytics software leader FICO found that 3 in 5 Americans (60%), including 50% of Gen Z (ages 18-27), believe personal finance is one of the most useful subjects in adulthood that can be taught in high school – more so than social studies (40%), science (37%), foreign languages (26%), physical education (23%) and art (15%). In fact, only math (66%) and English (65%) came in higher for subjects most useful in adulthood.

Nearly three in five Americans (59%) think K-12 schools should be most responsible for teaching people how to manage their finances and the majority (79%) think personal finance skills should be part of the high school curriculum. But less than half of Americans (46%) say they actually learned personal finance skills in their high school classroom.

“Those gaps help explain why financial literacy remains a long-standing challenge,” said Jenelle Dito, senior director of Client Services at FICO. “We found that more than one in four members of Gen Z does not consider themselves financially literate. That’s significantly higher than members of the Millennial (ages 28-43), Gen X (ages 44-59) and Baby Boomer (ages 60-78) generations.”

“It’s particularly alarming considering that Americans almost universally believe financial literacy is important for achieving financial stability and that access to more education could help them improve their current financial situation. Yet, a quarter of Gen Z adults say a lack of personal finance skills has prevented them from achieving their financial goals over the past year,” she added.

Nearly all (98%) Americans – including 99% of Gen Z adults – believe financial literacy is important for achieving financial stability. What’s more, nearly three-quarters (74%) of Americans think their current financial situation would improve if they had access to more personal finance resources/education. That figure is even higher among Gen Z adults, with 9-in-10 (90%) reporting so.

Credit Education is a Missing Link for Gen Z

Understanding how credit scores work was cited by Gen Z adults as one of the most important financial literacy skills (60%), second only to managing a checking or savings account (64%). However, many young adults may feel ill-prepared to manage their credit responsibly.

While nearly two-thirds of Gen Z adults (61%) believe their credit score is a fair representation of their overall financial health, more than 1 in 4 (28%) do not feel in control of their credit score. Fewer than half (46%) of Gen Z adults have checked their credit score in the past year to better their financial health and roughly one in six (16%) aren’t even sure where to find this information. About one in five (21%) say they lack the tools or knowledge to understand and manage their credit score.

“Ensuring today’s youth have access to resources to gain practical knowledge and life skills is paramount to their future success,” said Sally Greenberg, CEO, National Consumers League (NCL). “Personal finance education, including around credit, is critical to fostering the next generation of secure consumers.”

Closing the Credit Education Gap

“More state legislatures are requiring schools to incorporate financial literacy education into their curriculum, which is an important step in the right direction,” Dito said. “FICO understands that there is much more work to be done. We remain committed to expanding awareness of the tools and programs that exist to address this gap.”

While FICO’s survey found a slight majority of Gen Z adults (61%) think K-12 schools should be most responsible for educating people on how to manage their finances, such as using credit responsibly, managing debt and saving for retirement, 43% said banks and financial institutions should be most responsible for providing this education.

To that end, FICO offers a free credit education curriculum called Score A Better Future™ (SABF) Fundamentals that educators can use to teach their students how to make informed credit decisions that can last a lifetime.

FICO has a longstanding commitment to empowering people and economies through financial literacy. In addition to this curriculum and live SABF Fundamentals workshops, FICO provides resources to help people enhance their financial literacy, understand credit, and make empowered decisions. This includes in-person and webinar workshops, credit education materials and tools, as well as the myFICO website and app that enable consumers to check and monitor their FICO® Score for free.

For more information about FICO’s credit empowerment programs, visit https://www.fico.com/empowerment.

Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of FICO from August 27-29, 2024 among 2,092 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. Gen Z respondents were 18-27 years old; Millennials were 28-43 years old; Gen Xers were 44-59 years old; and Baby Boomers were 60-78 years old. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact press@fico.com.

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) powers decisions that help people and businesses around the world prosper. Founded in 1956, the company is a pioneer in the use of predictive analytics and data science to improve operational decisions. FICO holds more than 200 US and foreign patents on technologies that increase profitability, customer satisfaction and growth for businesses in financial services, insurance, telecommunications, health care, retail and many other industries. Using FICO solutions, businesses in more than 100 countries do everything from protecting 4 billion payment cards from fraud, to improving financial inclusion, to increasing supply chain resiliency. The FICO® Score, used by 90% of top US lenders, is the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the US and has been made available in over 40 other countries, improving risk management, credit access and transparency.

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