Title
Recognizing the month of April as Financial Literacy Month in the City of Philadelphia and authorizing the Joint Committees on Children and Youth and Education to hold hearings in order to discuss the issue of financial literacy amongst Philadelphia's youth and the possibility of implementing financial literacy classes in Philadelphia's public schools.
Body
WHEREAS, Consumers must confront complicated financial decisions at a young age in today's demanding financial environment and financial mistakes made early in life can be costly; and
WHEREAS, Young people often find themselves carrying high amounts of student loans or credit card debt and such early entanglements can hinder young people's ability to accumulate wealth; and
WHEREAS, Research conducted by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania found that most young adults are not well equipped to make financial decisions and do not possess knowledge of basic financial concepts including inflation, risk diversification or simple interest rate calculations; and
WHEREAS, Financial illiteracy is not only widespread but it is particularly acute among certain groups, such as women, African Americans and Hispanics; and as such, those groups tend to be more likely to be impacted by predatory financial institutions or practices; and
WHEREAS, Financial literacy is also linked to cognitive ability, time preferences, teachers' interest in students, parental background and peer characteristics; and
WHEREAS, A 2015 national survey showed that 84 percent of teens look to their parents to learn money management, yet one in three parents said they do not discuss money with their children; and
WHEREAS, Increasing financial literacy amongst Philadelphia's youth is especially important given the current average debt a student in Pennsylvania faces when they leave school is roughly $31,000 which makes Pennsylvania one of the highest states for student debt; and
WHEREAS, It is therefore...
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