Financial literacy & adult education: How the two are connected
Finance follows you your whole life – after all, money is how we afford everything. So, financial literacy is key to reaching any goal, whether that’s paying off debt, making a big purchase, providing for your family or saving for retirement.
What is financial literacy?
Financial literacy is the ability to understand and use money effectively. It’s not just about tracking your spending and creating a budget; it’s about using investing, banking, borrowing and other financial tools to get ahead.
According to a Stanford University study, financial literacy is low among American adults. Only 28% can correctly answer questions about all of the “Big Three” financial topics: compound interest, inflation and risk diversification.
Why is it important?
When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, even thinking about investing, dividends, or risk management can feel useless. But that’s when financial literacy matters most. When every dollar counts, making wise choices pays the greatest dividends.
Thinking strategically about money helps you to navigate life confidently. When you can plan, save, invest and budget, you know that no matter what life throws your way, you will be prepared.
And life, inevitably, throws things your way! We know from personal experience and from studying the Bible that life has seasons of unexpected hardship – some of them financial. With financial literacy as a skill, you won’t always avoid times when money is tight, but you’ll be able to plan your next steps.
Being financially literate will help you:
- Manage debt and credit
- Avoid bankruptcy
- Prepare for retirement
- Save up for emergencies
- Build wealth and security
How HopeWorks can help
At HopeWorks, we strongly emphasize helping our students build a healthy financial future.
Some of the ways we do that are:
- Our staff meets with Personal and Career Development classes at the Shelby County Division of Corrections to help them understand financial wellness before being released from prison.
- We hold regular meetings with Next Story residents to discuss budgeting.
- We partner with Southern Security Federal to help our students who don’t have a traditional financial partner open accounts.
- We can also refer our students to financial nonprofits equipped to provide more money management education, like RISE Memphis.
When we put all our hope in money, we will always find ourselves wanting, no matter our account balance. At HopeWorks, we reinforce that hope is only found through the love and redemptive power of Jesus Christ. Without Jesus as our foundation and cornerstone, nothing in this world can satisfy us – even money.
But our faith in the Lord is not an excuse to be financially unprepared. We pair hope in Jesus with the value of a meaningful job. And stewarding the salary you earn at that job is part of your faith story! While Jesus is ultimately our source of hope, we are still called to work hard in our professions and to guard the wages we earn with care and generosity for our well-being and His glory.