The need to teach the fundamentals of personal financial management has never been greater. A 2015 survey conducted by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation concluded that Americans demonstrate low levels of financial literacy and have difficulty applying financial decision-making skills to real-life situations. For example, most Americans do not comparison-shop for credit cards, with 61% saying that in obtaining their most recent credit card, they did not collect and compare information about cards from more than one company. Despite the need, the “2018 Survey of the States” conducted by the Council for Economic Education found that there has been little increase in economic education in recent years and no growth in personal finance education in K-12 schools.
CARE seeks to change these trends by providing students and young adults with the know-how to be smart financial consumers. CARE achieves this by providing no-cost financial education workshops to high schools, colleges, and youth organizations on one of 3 topics: Budgeting and Savings, Credit and Debt, and Student Loans.