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Study Underscores Importance of Financial Education

By Contributor
Banking and Financial Services

Youthful Interventions

On Aug. 18. EVERFI and the MassMutual Foundation announced findings from the third and final year of a three-year, longitudinal study of financial capability among adolescents. The release of this new data occurs as the MassMutual Foundation’s FutureSmart financial literacy curriculum also celebrates the milestone of reaching 6 million learners.

EVERFI is an international technology company driving social impact through education to address key societal challenges like financial wellness, character education, STEM and careers, mental health, prescription drug safety, workplace conduct, and more.

The study by EVERFI and the MassMutual Foundation, the first of its kind, has tracked financial behaviors and literacy levels of participants throughout the course of the study as they completed up to six different EVERFI financial education courses, including FutureSmart. Since the program’s inception in 2015, FutureSmart has provided free educational resources to students across the 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, helping them build a foundation for financial literacy and economic empowerment.

Third-year data was collected during the 2023-24 school year, providing further evidence that multiple financial education interventions among young people are key to making sustainable, long-term improvements to financial knowledge, self-efficacy, and desirable behaviors.

Dennis Duquette

Dennis Duquette

“These recent findings further affirm that middle school students are not only able to retain critical financial knowledge, but can show lasting success in the months following their education.”

Key takeaways from this year’s results include:

• Financial self-efficacy. Students who took multiple courses became 21% more confident in their financial skills compared to those who took one or fewer courses. Sustainable and evident growth in these students also existed six months following the program’s completion.

• Desirable financial behaviors. Taking multiple courses prepared students to actively engage in healthy financial behaviors when the opportunity arose. The frequency of these desirable behaviors increased by 10% compared to students who took one or fewer courses during the six-month period following the conclusion of the program.

• Interest in financial learning. Forty-four percent of the students who completed coursework expressed interest in receiving more financial education.

• Student-parent conversations. After participating in multiple courses from the program, students increased the frequency of financial-focused conversations with their parents by 9%. The topics that spurred these conversations included preventing financial fraud and the use of online banking applications.

• Impact on low-income families. Students in this category had a 12% larger improvement in their likelihood to engage in desirable financial behaviors compared to their peers in wealthier families.

“Throughout our strategic partnership with EVERFI, we have seen just how important sustained education is for creating a strong financial knowledge foundation and healthy financial habits for adolescents,” said Dennis Duquette, president of the MassMutual Foundation. “These recent findings further affirm that middle school students are not only able to retain critical financial knowledge, but can show lasting success in the months following their education.”

 

Continued Progress

This year’s findings build on conclusions from years one and two of the longitudinal study. Findings from year one noted that middle school students who participated in the FutureSmart curriculum significantly improved the frequency of desirable financial behaviors, including saving money, tracking monthly expenses, spending within a budget, and investing for long-term financial goals. Year two research findings confirmed that students demonstrated these behaviors after completing two or more courses in year one.

The FutureSmart curriculum significantly improved the frequency of desirable financial behaviors, including saving money, tracking monthly expenses, spending within a budget, and investing for long-term financial goals. Year two research findings confirmed that students demonstrated these behaviors after completing two or more courses in year one.

“As these recent study results confirm, the influence of multiple financial education interventions cannot be understated,” said Ray Martinez, CEO of EVERFI. “Over the past three years, we have seen how these interventions improve not only financial literacy, but willingness amongst adolescents to plan for and talk about their financial futures. Our continued work with the MassMutual Foundation is a powerful demonstration of how to empower students and help them build a foundation for financial success for themselves, their families, and their loved ones.”

The MassMutual Foundation’s stated goal is to invest in programs that help people access resources needed to earn, protect, and help build their financial capability and thrive, and its participation in this study reflects that priority.

“In 2015, our teams set a goal to reach over 6 million students with our middle school curriculum by 2025. Reaching that goal only further affirms the impact of the MassMutual Foundation’s long-term strategic partnership with EVERFI,” Duquette said. “We look forward to continuing to help build financial competency for students, their families, and communities.”

The Importance of Summer Jobs

By
Opinion

Editorial

Summer is officially here. For college students, it started more than a month ago. And for high-school students, it began just a few days ago.

That means a lot of people are looking for work, and that’s good, because companies across every sector of the economy are looking for help. This juxtaposition of demand and supply is a positive thing because, as we’ve noted many times in the past, summer jobs — often the first jobs for a great many teenagers — are critically important for these individuals, the companies that hire them, and the region’s economy as a whole.

In short, these jobs help introduce people to the world of work, to companies in this area large and small, and, perhaps, to relationships that can last years, decades, or even a lifetime.

Which is why businesses should create such opportunities, if they can. And, in this time of workforce challenges, most of them can — and they are.

No matter where you end up in life — professionally, geographically, or otherwise — you remember your first job. And your second. And your third. But especially your first.

In this market, it might be working the counter at Friendly’s making Fribbles. Or bagging groceries at Big Y. Or working one of the carny games at Six Flags. Or working at one of the farms in Hadley, Hatfield, or East Longmeadow.

In each case, skills are learned, and work habits are developed. Young employees learn about the need to be on time, work beside others, and operate as part of a team. These employees learn not only from their supervisors, but from everyone around them.

The work may not always be fun and exhilarating, but it puts money in one’s pocket and helps keep him or her out of trouble.

As for college students looking to earn some money between semesters, summer jobs can and often do provide more than that. In many cases, jobs or internships can introduce them to careers and companies they can work for in the years to come.

Time and again, we’ve read and heard stories about young people who were undecided about what they wanted to do career-wise and were put on a path — or a different path than the one they were on — because of a summer job or internship at an accounting firm, marketing firm, or even a law firm.

These stories relate the importance of summer jobs — be they first jobs or someone’s fifth or sixth — to creating real opportunities, for both employees and employers.

Summer jobs have always been important, but in this climate, when businesses of all kinds and sizes are often desperate for help, and when many young people are trying to enter the workforce and perhaps start down the path to a career, they are more important than ever.