April is National Financial Literacy Month: Time to Improve Your Finances and Your Life

I've been making a big push to get financial literacy into the spotlight not only for today's youth, but for their parents and grandparents as well.

Some of my efforts have been in the form of my book, establishing financial literacy courses this summer at Discovery College, getting articles out in the local papers, and continued facilitation of the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course at my church.

Here are some sobering statistics illustrating why improving one's financial literacy is so critical:

For adults:
* 43% of working Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement. 27% have less than $1,000 saved.
* Out of 100 Americans aged 65 and older, 97 cannot write a check for $600 on any given day of the month (a sign of living paycheck to paycheck)
* 7 out of 10 households are currently living paycheck to paycheck

For students:
* 60% of college freshman with credit cards will max them out before the end of their first year of college.
* The average monthly credit card balance for college students is $4,776
* One in every three college students graduate with at least $10,000 of credit card debt alone (not even counting any student loan debt)
* More students are dropping out of college due to finances than academics
* Overbearing debt/financial issues is the leading cause of suicide among college students.

I will be dedicating even more time during this month to get as much information, tips, and suggestions out in front of everyone. I will also be blogging throughout the month, so please don't hesitate signing up and following my blog so you can be notified when new posts are made

I will try to get the first tip/lesson out tomorrow. If there are any topics you would like to see discussed or explained please let me know. The more information I can get out in front of others the better!

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Easter weekend!