The Financial Problems New Adults Face After High School
We all dream of the freedom that adulthood brings when we are children, but once we reach this point, we often laugh at our younger selves. Even in high school, when we are aware of bills and other adult hardships, we crave independence. Yet, it is once we are on our own that we realize how little we truly know. They make us take a semester of personal finance, but how many of us come out of high school financially literate?
Many people don’t know how to pay taxes as an independent contractor or file them during tax season. It is more accessible as a w2 worker, but there are so many other things we didn’t learn about. For example, there were ways we could have built our credit score in our teenage years and ways we could do the same for our kids. Some people don’t even know how to apply for a loan or build their credit. They don’t know about money management or what it is honestly like to bear the responsibilities we face as adults.
This is why we need to include financial literacy in every single year of high school. Kids need to be better prepared for independence so that they can enjoy it.