75% of people agree that financial education more important than sex education

Baltimore, September 29, 2009 – According to a poll by YoungMoney.com, 75% of people polled think that financial education is more important than sex education.

This comes after months of the “worst recession since the Great Depression”*—a time when financial education is one everyone’s mind. However, more schools provide some form of sex education than any form of financial education. And, most young people agree that kids know more about sex than they do about money.

By the time they reach their senior year, 56 percent of college students carry four or more credit cards with an average balance of $2,864.** According to a survey taken by Iowa State University, their average student owns three credit cards, and most respondents to their survey said “they didn’t feel like they were spending real money when they used credit cards or student loan funds.”

Thanks to the recession, financial literacy in the U.S. has become a serious national issue. With limited instruction in personal finance and growing pressures from credit card debt, student loan debt and general living expenses, many young adults are overwhelmed by their financial challenges. For example, the typical college student has accumulated a student loan debt of $19,646, according to a 2007 analysis by The Project for Student Debt.

Ben Levy, CEO of Young Money says, “Young people aren’t getting the financial education they need. We aren’t preparing them to start debt free lives. We want to take it a step further, we want to educate and help people actually change their behavior.”

This is why Young Money has decided to launch the first ever financial literacy challenge that will actually change behavior. To encourage people to start saving for the future we are offering $25 when you complete the quiz and open a ShareBuilder account.

The challenge is a twenty question financial IQ quiz. All questions offer an easy to understand help section, a score of 90% or higher results in a list of incentivized offers. Young Money has partnered with national companies including ShareBuilder, PNC Bank, New York Life, FreeCreditReport.com, and PayOff Live to offer these behavior changing incentives.

These incentives have been carefully chosen to touch upon the most important financial concerns: getting out of debt, saving money, managing money and checking credit reports.

By the time they reach their senior year, 56% of college students carry four or more credit cards with an average balance of $2,864.** According to a survey taken by Iowa State University, their average student owns three credit cards, and most respondents to their survey said “they didn’t feel like they were spending real money when they used credit cards or student loan funds.”

Thanks to the recession, financial literacy in the U.S. has become a serious national issue. With limited instruction in personal finance and growing pressures from credit card debt, student loan debt and general living expenses, many young adults are overwhelmed by their financial challenges. For example, the typical college student has accumulated a student loan debt of $19,646, according to a 2007 analysis by The Project for Student Debt.

In response, Young Money is offering the first ever behavior changing financial challenge. The challenge is a twenty question financial IQ quiz. All questions offer an easy to understand help section, a score of 90% or higher results in a list of incentivized offers. Young Money has partnered with national companies including ShareBuilder, PNC Bank, New York Life, FreeCreditReport.com, and PayOff Live to offer these behavior changing incentives. The incentives include $25 free when you open a ShareBuilder account, two months free of PayOff Live, and many other offers as well.

These incentives have been carefully chosen to touch upon the most important financial concerns: getting out of debt, saving money, managing money and checking credit reports.

Levy concludes, “Give someone a monetary reason to open a savings account and they’re more likely to do so. More importantly, people with savings accounts are much more likely to actually start saving. It’s our goal to encourage people down the right path.”

About Young Money
Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, YOUNG MONEY® was launched in 1999 to change the way young adults earn, manage, invest and spend money. As a leading national money, business and lifestyle magazine written primarily by student journalists, YOUNG MONEY specifically focuses on personal finance, careers, entrepreneurship and higher education. For more information, please visit www.youngmoney.com.

Please contact Todd Romer for more information: tromer@youngmoney.com.