What Are Your Kids Learning About Credit Card Debt?
January 27, 2009
Do you know what your kids are learning about money and debt in school? If not, you might be surprised by some of the things they learn (and some of the things they don’t).
When I was in school, we had very little education about money management. We had one class in high school called Consumer Education that lasted for one semester - about 4 months. That was it.
And it made such an impact on me, that I don’t even remember what it was they taught us in that class. I do remember it being more like a free block though, one that we all looked forward to because it was such a breeze.
These days, schools are trying to do a better job of preparing kids for the financial hurdles of adulthood, but what they’re teaching is a bit of a mixed bag.
Some schools do a good job while others just don’t have enough resources (aka money) to offer much of a program.
And you know who is stepping in to help them by supplying resources for them to use? The credit card companies.
Does that worry you at all? It should…
Naturally, these resources discuss carrying debt on credit cards. And some of these resources claim that it is perfectly acceptable to carry up to 20% of your net income in credit card debt!
Talk about paving the way for future debt problems.
It is never acceptable to carry any debt on credit cards if you can possibly avoid it. Lots of people have had emergencies that required it, but far more just spend more money than they can afford, and use credit cards to do it. I know all about that, having done it myself for far too long.
I find it scary that this is the foundation that some of our kids are getting for their financial management skills as adults.
Whether or not you’ve got debt of your own, you owe it to your kids to give them a good foundation to work from when they become adults. If you want to help them start out right, I highly recommend a book called Debt-Proof Your Kids
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