1. Financial literacy programs don’t work.

There are plenty of naysayers out there. But research keeps trickling in that shows financial education positively effects young adults’ money decisions. Edutopia notes that students who receive financial education are more likely to save more and accumulate more net worth in their adult years.

And a 2015 study from FINRA shows that three states that implemented rigorous financial education mandates documented “notable improvements in credit outcomes for young adults who take personal finance courses in high school.” According to the FINRA study, “as the personal finance curriculum becomes more established over time, we begin to see significant effects on subsequent credit outcomes.”

2. All financial literacy programs are the same.

Not all financial education is created equal. Recent research from the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning shows that highly interactive methods, like simulations or solution-based projects, have a particularly positive influence on student understanding of personal finance concepts.

In the February 2015 issue of Business Education Forum, its position paper on personal finance states, “Effective strategies for Personal Finance instruction require active student learning [that] includes the ability to apply critical thinking. In contrast to passive student learning, such as listening to a lecture, active learning engages students in learning segments.”

Interactive methods like experiential learning are more effective than worksheets or modules because students actually do something to learn about it.

3. Financial advice is better than financial literacy.

What you don’t know can hurt you when it comes to money. According to a study done for Banque de France last January by Majdi Debbich, “financial literacy is not only important for financial decision making but also for being able to receive relevant advice.” In his study, those who were financially literate were more likely to seek out and understand financial advice when they needed it. Financial literacy is also about knowing what you don’t know.

4. Financial literacy should be taught by parents.

It’d be great to learn about money from your parents. But the reality is that many parents don’t have an excellent grasp on finances themselves. Christy Crump, a business owner who volunteered to teach financial literacy through the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, found that many parents didn’t have the information she was teaching:

“What I started hearing as [students] got comfortable with me is that many of their parents didn’t have this knowledge,” Crump says, “They would come back in the next week and say, ‘I told my mom what you said last week and she didn’t know that she was supposed to be doing that.’”

Financial education is necessary in schools to ensure every student gets exposure to these skills.

And, as you’ve seen, “exposure” isn’t enough. Students need to learn by doing when it comes to money, which will help them to better understand their finances and seek out resources when they understand what they don’t know.

The post 4 myths about financial education appeared first on brass Media.

By Katie Jimenez, a junior at West Albany High School

I don’t want to have to rely on my parents to get me through life. As soon as I graduate college, I want to know how to be a financially responsible adult. Financial education is my best chance at independence.

Financial education covers a lot of topics, including saving for college, budgeting and spending, and credit and debit cards. I’m interested in these topics because they relate to my life at the moment: I’m picking out colleges and trying to figure out how to pay for them, and I want to know how I can use my credit scores to help with student loans.

Teens need to learn the importance of financial independence as they begin to start their adult lives after high school, whether it’s going to college or getting a job. Here’s how to get students like me to pay attention:

Relate topics to the students’ lives. I don’t need to learn about home ownership, family spending, or planning for retirement when I haven’t even graduated high school yet. Are these topics important? Absolutely. But these topics aren’t crucial for teenagers while they are still in high school.

Make the topics easy to understand for students. I’m a visual learner. If a bank tried to get me to read an article about the difference between credit and debit cards, I’d get nothing out of it but a headache. Hands-on activities or visual aids make an impact on teens trying to understand the concepts of financial education.

Financial education is important to teens who wish to live independently. Though not all financial topics are relevant to our lives at the moment, we want to learn the basic concepts of financial literacy. We want easy-to-understand lessons about money that we’ll use for the rest of our lives.

The post What students want from financial education appeared first on brass Media.

They say that for every dark cloud there is a silver lining.  This definitely describes the current state of financial education in the U.S.  Headlines about financial literacy over the past several years have been pretty grim. The good news is that states and school districts are starting to respond.

In 2014, the Council for Economic Education’s Survey of the States reported that state progress “in Personal Finance requirements has slowed its pace since the mid-2000s.” Students in only 17 states need personal finance to graduate, and only 19 states require schools to teach at least one personal finance class.

Three states dropped their personal finance standards last year, reducing the number of states who include personal finance in their K-12 standards to 43.

Here come the silver linings! The National Council of State Legislatures reports that 13 states enacted legislation for financial literacy during their 2014 sessions. The link has a comprehensive table that looks at all 50 states. But at a glance, things look promising:

• New York passed a bill that will develop a financial literacy program for young adults as part of the New York State summer youth employment program.
• Utah will now require assessment for school districts where students have taken a general financial literacy course.
• Other states enacting legislation include Michigan, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Hawaii.

Students know the benefits of being money-savvy, especially as they get ready to set out on their own after graduation. Speaking about a business class he took his sophomore year, high school student Reichard told USA Today, “Everything in here is real-life applicable.  At first I was like, man, another requirement. But in the end, it was definitely worth it.”

So if students want to learn about finances, what’s the problem? Many teachers don’t feel prepared to cover financial education, or there isn’t enough money in the budget for stuff that’s not required.

Here at brass, we have a goal of reaching every young adult in the country to help them make confident choices. Teachers, high schools, and businesses can make sure students in their area get a quality financial education with the Money Side of Life Student Program. This program provides experiential learning activities that meet state and national standards and teaching objectives. Young adults help create the materials, so teachers can reach students with lessons that are relevant to students’ life stage.

Requirement or not, we believe that financial education is everyone’s business.

Image via CC from Flickr user Mario Bollini. 

The post The state of financial education in U.S. high schools appeared first on brass Media.

1. Financial literacy programs don’t work.

There are plenty of naysayers out there. But research keeps trickling in that shows financial education positively effects young adults’ money decisions. Edutopia notes that students who receive financial education are more likely to save more and accumulate more net worth in their adult years.

And a 2015 study from FINRA shows that three states that implemented rigorous financial education mandates documented “notable improvements in credit outcomes for young adults who take personal finance courses in high school.” According to the FINRA study, “as the personal finance curriculum becomes more established over time, we begin to see significant effects on subsequent credit outcomes.”

2. All financial literacy programs are the same.

Not all financial education is created equal. Recent research from the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning shows that highly interactive methods, like simulations or solution-based projects, have a particularly positive influence on student understanding of personal finance concepts.

In the February 2015 issue of Business Education Forum, its position paper on personal finance states, “Effective strategies for Personal Finance instruction require active student learning [that] includes the ability to apply critical thinking. In contrast to passive student learning, such as listening to a lecture, active learning engages students in learning segments.”

Interactive methods like experiential learning are more effective than worksheets or modules because students do something to learn about it.

3. Financial advice is better than financial literacy.

What you don’t know can hurt you when it comes to money. According to a study done for Banque de France last January by Majdi Debbich, “financial literacy is not only important for financial decision making but also for being able to receive relevant advice.” In his study, those who were financially literate were more likely to seek out and understand financial advice when they needed it. Financial literacy is also about knowing what you don’t know.

4. Parents should teach financial literacy.

It’d be great to learn about money from your parents. But the reality is that many parents don’t have an excellent grasp on finances themselves. Christy Crump, a business owner who volunteered to teach financial literacy through the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, found that many parents didn’t have the information she was teaching:

“What I started hearing as [students] got comfortable with me is that many of their parents didn’t have this knowledge,” Crump says, “They would come back in the next week and say, ‘I told my mom what you said last week and she didn’t know that she was supposed to be doing that.’”

Financial education is necessary in schools to ensure every student gets exposure to these skills.

And, as you’ve seen, “exposure” isn’t enough. Students need to learn by doing when it comes to money so they better understand their finances and seek out resources when they understand what they don’t know.

The post 4 things everyone gets wrong about financial education appeared first on brass Media.

Since 2006, April has been National Financial Literacy Month. It was created to “raise public awareness about the importance of financial education in the United States and the serious consequences associated with a lack of understanding about personal finances.”

Get in on the financially fit fun! There are plenty of ways to get involved:

• Credit unions and banks can get in on the fun by sponsoring savings contests for local schools.
• Teachers, hold a game day for students where they tackle budgets for things like prom or a new car.

Make sure your company or classroom participates in this Financial Literacy Month. There are tons of online resources to help you celebrate:

• The Financial Educator’s Council offers a handy guide and free resources for planning FLM events.
• Jump$tart.org has a short list of FLM events and a media kit.
• At FinancialLiteracyMonth.com, you can take an FLM pledge and download activities and ebooks.

Don’t forget that we have a lot of great resources here at Brass! The Student Program is intended to help high school students learn about money through experiential activities and lesson plans. These can be easily incorporated into any teacher’s lessons.

We’ll also be posting financial literacy trivia on our social networks using the hashtag #finlitmonth, so make sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The post Resources for Financial Literacy Month appeared first on brass Media.

At Brass, we talk a lot about how important it is for your business to have a relationship with teachers, students, and schools. We’re built on helping young adults (including high school students) understand money so they can make confident choices. But we’re not just talking the talk.

I want to share one way we’re walking the walk. Our video department recently collaborated with Mr. Freedman and his Film making class from Crescent Valley High School. We put together a video illustrating how the collaboration went. Take a look:

I also spoke with Brad Childs in our video department, who set up the collaboration. I wanted to know how this experience and the resulting relationship has helped students and Brass itself.

How did this help the students?

Brad Childs: I think this helped them in two main ways. The first is learning the importance of the pre-production process. Mr. Freedman told me initially that students like to just grab the camera and go without planning much out, so I made sure to spend lots of extra time up front helping them through how to develop an idea, character arcs, tension, and turn that into a script. Several of them mentioned how much they learned in that process and how much easier it made the filming later, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

The second way is that students learned a lot of things about collaboration. Most of their previous projects have been individual videos where their ideas are king, but on this project they had to listen to each other’s ideas and figure out how to work together. And I have to say I was very impressed with each of them. Often atmospheres that are too democratic don’t work on film sets because endless discussion and debate keeps things from getting done, but the entire class did a great job of listening to each other while still buckling down to get things done. And I think having that different kind of experience was very beneficial for them.

Not to mention that planning and collaboration are important skills students will need in the working world. That’s great!

How did this collaboration help Brass?

BC: In one word: relationships. This project helped us build a relationship with the teacher and students that we hope to continue in a variety of ways. One is that we’re hoping that we might be able to get these students involved in our own projects here at Brass via acting in our videos, occasionally helping us out as crew members, and possibly even summer internships. A lot of the students show promise and it will be great to get them involved in what we’re doing.

One of the things I’m most excited about, though, is an idea that Mr. Freedman pitched to us about hiring his class as independent contractors to make a video for us. It will be great to walk his students through what the video process looks like in a professional setting with an initial pitch, multiple reviews, and learning how to make a client happy. And it will be great for us to be able to contract a video out to someone else so we can focus our time and energy on other projects.

This collaboration is proof that everybody wins when you form relationships with high schools and students. Think about your own relationships (or consider starting some). Download our white paper to learn more about how to get involved and build relationships.

The post Walking the walk: how Brass gets involved with high schools appeared first on brass Media.

The Commission for Financial Capability has created a National Strategy for Financial Literacy‘s vision is to help “everyone get ahead financially.” I would compare this group to the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability. This is the basic strategy for the New Zealand Commission:

One of the best initiatives I have come across is the Exchange, which was launched in 2013. This website offers a collaboration point for government and non-government organizations to come together and take maximum advantage of each groups’ skills. According to Retirement Chairperson Diane Maxwell, “The Exchange aims to match resource with need. It brings together organisations who have identified a need with those who can help, and who have the expertise, resources, and commitment to improve financial literacy among New Zealanders.”

It’s actually a very simple but clever way to launch financial education projects between groups that have an identified need of help and the corresponding organization that can deliver the assistance program. The first round of testing has been completed and the Exchange is now actively helping to bring financial education to the people that need it.

An example of a group that is similar to Brass Media in their desire to help students is the Young Enterprise Trust, a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure all New Zealand students participate in experiential enterprise education and financial literacy programs. The experiential learning model (doing activities, getting out of the classroom, collaborating with others, and making the subjects relevant to the students) has long been a hallmark of the Brass Student Student Program in the U.S.

The challenge for students to understand money and make confident decisions about it will continue to be addressed across the globe. After seeing a little of how New Zealand is addressing it and knowing full well how organizations like Brass Media, NEFE, and Inceptia in the U.S. are tackling it, I have full confidence that the movement will continue to grow.

The post How financial literacy in New Zealand compares to U.S. programs appeared first on brass Media.

We all know that businesses like yours can offer valuable insights about financial literacy and workplace readiness to high school students by doing presentations for high schools. In fact, you may already be doing presentations for classes or forming important partnerships with high schools.

Last week, we did a 30-minute webinar on this exact topic. If you didn’t get a chance to see the webinar, click on the button below and you can view the recording.

Step 1: Figure out who to talk to

Know any teachers, principals, or high school administrators? Ask them about financial literacy in their school. Are they teaching any classes on it, or know someone who is? If there’s no personal finance class, ask around about business, economics, social studies, health education, or home economics courses–these are all great places to give a presentation about budgeting, paying for school, or car insurance. Get a teacher’s contact information and you’re ready for Step 2.

Step 2: Get the teacher’s attention

Teachers have strict schedules, so there’s not much time for phone calls. Send them an email with a paragraph or two about who you are, what you’d like to do, and why you’re qualified to speak to high school students.

Once you’ve established a connection and agreed on a presentation, send the teacher a more detailed outline to help them plan for your arrival and run your presentation by the principal. We have a handy PDF with all the important information: download it, fill it out, and email it to the teacher.

Step 3: Come prepared

Double check with the teacher about how many students are in the class, what the protocol is for checking in and when you need to be there, etc. You don’t want to show up at the wrong time or without enough handouts (which, by the way, you should clear with the teacher first).

When creating your presentation, make sure it’s engaging so the students will actually learn something (and remember your business). Try to get them moving around and collaborating, and make sure your subject matter is relevant–so nix the presentation about retirement unless you can find a way to make it relevant to a high school audience.

Step 4: Nail it

Make sure to practice a few times. Bring some freebies. Be interested in the students and skip the sales pitch. And ask the teacher about how you did–nobody knows their classes better, so that feedback is always spot-on.

Step 5: Don’t miss our next webinar

Sign up for our email newsletter to get the latest white papers, webinar announcements, and other handy information every month.

The post You Don’t have to be a Teacher to Educate Students about Money appeared first on brass Media.

It’s no secret that resources and budgets are pretty tight at your school, especially for things that fall outside of the Common Core. You also know that the omission of financial education that helps students make more confident decisions about money is a detriment to their overall preparation for living on their own. You know its important, but you can’t get it funded and implemented. So what are you supposed to do?

Time to get help

There are numerous programs and corporate sponsors, many of them financial institutions, that want to become involved with your school. Often, they’ll be providing materials and resources to teachers they met at a conference and you may not even know about it. Here are a couple of ideas for getting a program rolling in your school so that understanding money doesn’t become the missing element in your student’s graduation portfolio.

Assess your needs

 First thing you need is a basic strategy and understanding of the outcomes you hope to achieve. Searching through different program options will likely be the biggest time commitment and you don’t want to get bogged down in all the choices. Answering questions like these will help you shorten the time it takes searching for the best program to bring it to reality.

Take a couple minutes and answer some internal questions such as:

• Does the program have built-in assessment tools?
• Will my teachers be able to teach it immediately or does it require special training?
• Will it engage students?
• What resources (dollars, staff) will we have available to make sure it succeeds?
• Is there a community partner that would help us bring this program to the school?

If you have an idea about what you want for your teachers and students (requirements like experiential learning activities, self-paced modules, software programs are some of the things you’ll come across), you can quickly narrow down the choices.

brass Media is 100% invested in producing experiential learning activities that use relevant topics students can collaborate on, and making sure our materials meet state and federal education standards. If you’re looking for that type of program, we’d be a good choice. But if you wanted single student modules, you’d need to research those types of programs instead.

What’s next

After you have narrowed your choices to the final few, feel free to reach out to the program directors and ask for a demonstration and sample resources. You’ll quickly find out program pricing options and whether sponsorship is an option. Businesses, financial institutions in particular, are often willing to not only pay for a program for local schools, but they will also contribute some resources to give presentations and add real world experience to discussions.

At brass, we have pursued this model for our Student Program because it results in a win-win for the school and the sponsoring company. The school gets a great program and on the ground assistance in administering it, and the company gets brand recognition and community goodwill.

Adding a great financial education program into your already hectic schedule of topics is no easy task, but I hope you agree it’s an important one.These simple steps can help get you started on the right track to giving your students that additional confidence about money they will desperately throughout their lives.

The post How to Get Financial Education Resources for Your School appeared first on brass Media.

Before you get in front of a classroom, go through this list to make sure you’re in the clear when it comes to major don’ts for a presentation.

Don’t make a sales pitch

Schools frown on sales-pitches, especially if they are done directly to students. But we realize that you have a job to do, too. If you have a new product for young adults, you can work it into your presentation, but make sure that it’s in the context of the topic. One way to do this is to direct students to more information about the product that they can look up on their own time. Or encourage them to stop by your branch to see a representative if they have questions.

That doesn’t mean you can’t bring giveaways. By all means, bring some swag. Swag makes great prizes for answering trivia question or to give as an incentive for asking you questions. Again, make sure the swag has relevance to the students or the topic you’re presenting.

Don’t do all the talking

We know you’re there to present, but that doesn’t mean you have to do all of the talking. In fact, we encourage you not to. Let students do a lot of the talking, whether you are presenting them with a problem to solve or turning them loose to discuss something in groups. Or you could give students a topic and have them get into teams to debate it.

Don’t be afraid to let students use their phones

These days many students have either a laptop, tablet, or phone at their desks. And you have a website, Facebook page or other online offerings. How about having the students look up your website at their desk while you are talking about your organization and the services you offer? Not only will they learn, you will most likely get some valuable feedback from this young adult demographic. Plus, your web address will already be in their history!

Of course, get this cleared with the teacher first.

Don’t show up unprepared

PRACTICE. You don’t have to memorize your presentation. But be sure to spend time before you go into the classroom rehearsing what you’re going to talk about.

And be sure to have some sort of backup plan if you’re relying on technology. Computers have a way of breaking down at just the wrong time – or maybe that’s just mine.

To help you be prepared, we have a handy little sheet that will give teachers and principals an idea of why you’re the right person to visit their classroom. Just click on the box below to get started with your stellar classroom presentation.

The post Read This Before Presenting about Your Business to a High School Classroom appeared first on brass Media.