In the United States, we miss the mark in preparing young adults for navigating the world of personal finance.
When I graduated from high school, I had very little understanding of money. Sure, I had some after school jobs and received a few paychecks, but my management of that money was extremely basic. I never had a real budget. I had no concept of investing, of interest, of opportunity cost, of credit scores, of mortgages, and the list goes on. But then again, you don’t need it at that age, right? How many high schoolers actually have bills to pay? How many high schoolers have enough cash to be serious about investing? How many high schoolers are even remotely close to needing to think about their credit score and apply for a mortgage?
I think, unfortunately, that this is the mentality that too much of us have – we think that because it’s not really necessary to have a financial education at that age, we don’t push the subject. We don’t teach young adults these skills because we leave them to figure it out on their own when they need to know it, but what happens?
Well, we know what happens – you end up with a generation that is woefully unprepared. You end up with nearly half of Americans in 2026 being unable to cover a $1,000 emergency expense (Bankrate). You end up with millions of Americans with student loan balances and monthly payments that are out of control and unsustainable. You end up with completely unaffordable cars being financed for ridiculous term lengths. You end up with an inability to properly structure a budget and have the discipline to stick to it. You end up with Americans making mistakes in their finances, tanking credit scores, underpreparing for the future, and digging a hole that becomes harder and harder to climb out of.
And what is the cause for all this? I would argue that it is a lack of dialogue.
When an 18-year-old is agreeing to take on student loan debt to attend college, who is out there contextualizing how much debt they’re taking on, what type of loans they are, what the interest rate(s) will be, what a realistic salary expectation would be post-grad for their degree? Who is out there telling the new college graduate what an appropriate framework is for purchasing a car, considering term, monthly payment as a percentage of gross wages, total cost of the loan? Who is out there demonstrating how to healthily proportion your first paycheck into the buckets of needs, wants, savings, and giving? Who is out there modeling a healthy relationship with credit cards to build history and create favorable home purchasing opportunities in the future?
Who is teaching America these things? In my experience, it is not the school systems, and it is (usually) not parents. The only way we are to learn these skills is to pursue an education for ourselves.
Unfortunately, there is so much noise in this area. For someone wanting to start out in their financial journey, it can seem like there is a never-ending ocean of institutions, personalities, influencers, and literature promising to provide the secret recipe to financial freedom. Some of this information is good. Some of this information is bad. Like, really bad.
My goal with Talking Numbers is to provide a no-frill, no-gimmicks knowledge hub for those wanting to begin or further their financial education. I aim to provide clear explanations and data-driven examples of personal finance concepts that enable readers to put their best foot forward in securing their financial freedom. I don’t claim to be an expert in finance – to be clear, I am not a certified financial professional. You won’t find advanced tax system knowledge here, or personalized investment advice, or day trading strategies. That’s not the point. What you will find here are objective presentations of topics fueled by research and considered from a variety of viewpoints to provide you with the clearest and most actionable path forward in applying this knowledge to your own journey.
I hope you’ll join me in pursuing a better financial future, together.
-LS