Are your clients' kids learning the basics of money management?

Young adults shouldn't learn about money the hard way — in other words, by losing it.

A recent national survey found that 88% of adults believe that every student should take a one-semester or full-year course in personal finance. Unfortunately, less than half of high school students are now receiving instruction in personal finance.

But that statistic is rapidly changing, according to Tim Ranzetta, co-founder of Next Gen Personal Finance, as more schools across the country adopt his no-fee educational programs.    

InvestmentNews caught up with Ranzetta to learn about the current state of financial education in American schools, as well how basketball great Michael Jordan got involved in the mission to teach high school students the basics of money management.

InvestmentNews: What is the current state of financial education in high school and junior high school classrooms in America?

Tim Ranzetta: There is tremendous momentum for financial education in U.S. high schools. In just the last two years, we have seen the number of states that guarantee a one-semester personal finance course more than double, from 8 to 17. Ohio, Rhode Island and Nebraska made this commitment in 2021 while Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan, New Hampshire and Kansas joined this group in 2022. When these states have completed the implementation of these courses in future years, nearly 40% of high school students will be guaranteed to have taken this course. 

IN: Why the sudden momentum in the number of states guaranteeing this course? 

TR: We have seen a significant increase in advocacy at all levels of education. From teachers, students and parents standing up at school board meetings to attest to the value of the course, to legislative sponsors making personal finance education their top priority during legislative sessions, to state boards of education rethinking the skills students need to succeed in the 21st century, to state superintendents of education realizing the importance of real-life, relevant skills that come from this education. 

IN: How has Next Gen Personal Finance supported this movement? 

TR: I co-founded this nonprofit in 2014 with Jessica Endlich with the simple belief that all high school students deserve a course in personal finance before they cross the graduation stage. We then set out to create an organization to accomplish that goal by serving educators with a comprehensive, current and customizable curriculum. Our courses include our flagship NGPF semester course, financial algebra and a middle school course. In addition, we provide supplemental resources including arcade games, questions of the day and current events videos and quizzes through our FinCap Friday.  More than 71,000 teachers rely on NGPF as their one-stop source for personal finance curriculum.

We also offer professional development to increase teacher content knowledge. NGPF offers three ways for teachers to learn: a one-hour virtual PD sessions offered weekly, certification courses which offer deep dives in 10 different content areas, and on-demand modules on over 40 different topics. Each of these offerings align to the curriculum which provides teachers with the skills and confidence to teach this subject. In just the past few years, 15,000 educators have invested more than 300,000 hours through these workshops and modules.

Finally, we provide advocacy tools to assist advocates to increase access to this essential course. Our documentaries, The Most Important Class You Never Had and Real-World Class, have demonstrated the importance and impact of personal finance courses from a teacher and student perspective. 

Most importantly, we provide all of this at no cost to teachers or schools and can do so since we are funded through an endowment. 

IN: Do you work with state and local governments and school boards? Is there a lot of red tape?

TR: We have engaged with advocates at every level. At the grassroots, our Gold Standard Challenge provided more than $1 million in grants to 194 schools and districts committed to ensuring universal access to personal finance courses in their schools. We found that coalitions of teachers, students and parents were the driving force persuading local school boards to meet the needs of their students. 

To more effectively advocate at the state level, we created an affiliated organization, NGPF Mission 2030 Fund, in 2021. Over the past year, we have had dozens of conversations with legislators, state education leaders, state boards of education and policymakers in 25 states. They see the momentum behind this movement and understand why there is a tremendous need and parents and students are demanding it.

IN: How did you get involved? 

TR: I was one of the fortunate few who received this education at home. My dad worked as a banker and my mom could stretch a food dollar when buying groceries for our eight-person household. When an opportunity to start a personal finance course opened up at a school serving students seeking to be first in their family to go to college, I jumped at it. That experience as a volunteer teacher showed me how much students wanted to learn about money and also the ripple effect of these lessons as parents reached out to me wanting to learn about budgeting and investing. Soon thereafter, Jessica and I started Next Gen Personal Finance. 

IN: How did Michael Jordan get involved in financial education and sponsoring Next Gen?

TR: In 2020, Michael Jordan and his Jordan Brand company set up a $100 million fund for social organizations assisting black people with social justice and greater access to education. One area of focus for this fund was increasing access to financial education. We developed a successful model to increase access in large districts serving Black students. Our Financial Empowerment and Equity program places a personal finance specialist in districts to provide curriculum support and professional development. Their funding enabled us to expand this program into the following districts: Fulton County (Georgia), New York, Charlotte and Guilford County (North Carolina), Detroit and Philadelphia.