The Associated Press has picked up on our financial literacy survey–a story that ran in numerous papers nationwide. Our personal finance education survey found that a majority of adult respondents did not possess elementary math skills. As our survey shows, many consumers don’t understand how to perform some of the most simple calculations that factor into their daily activities.
For instance, only one-third of respondents understood how to calculate interest rates on a home mortgage. Even fewer respondents knew that overdrawing on their checking account was much more expensive than getting an advance on their credit card, taking out a two-week payday loan, or receiving an emergency wire transfer.
It is our hope that with more economic education in schools and at the public level, consumers will become more aware of the financial options available to them and learn to make the most cost-effective choices.
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[...] knowing how to calculate interest on a loan or budgeting money for the future. In order to make cost-effective choices in their lives, American consumers must first be provided the fundamental tools for financial [...]