New Jersey Bankruptcy Lawyers Foundation Financial Literacy Program
The New Jersey Bankruptcy Lawyers Foundation has been sponsoring educational programs for high school students for almost two decades. The objective of the programs is to encourage students to develop an awareness regarding the pitfalls that they are going to encounter once they have the ability to incur debt, get credit, spend money and so forth. The program has been beneficial for literally hundreds, if not thousands, of young people who have participated in the program.
The audiences for the programs typically have included public and private high schools and student participants in service organization events. Recently, we have discussed bringing the program to inner city youth with the support of Legal Services and Rutgers Law School.
Typically, our sessions with high school seniors are hour long programs which bring together issues that are often ignored by standard financial literacy programs and seminars but are so important in today’s increasingly complex financial environment. Originally conceived by three, now retired, bankruptcy attorneys as a way to help individuals understand “the rules of the game” and to avoid financial trouble, the program first discusses the relationship between risk and interest rates leading into a discussion of credit scores (what are they and why are credit scores so important). The program next discusses credit cards, what they are, how to use them wisely and how to avoid their dangers, specifically the danger of paying only the minimum payment. Finally, in recent years, FLIP has added a component on student loans, again understanding that such loans are often unavoidable but encouraging people to be cautious in obtaining the loans and understanding the economic consequences of obtaining the loans. The program also touches on the importance of establishing a spending plan (budget) when deciding how much debt one can incur, especially student loan debt. A segment on identity theft also can be included if time allows.
While the program was originally designed for high school students, we have found that over the years the teachers have responded well to the program and, as a result, the program works for most age groups. The program recently was presented as part of a staff resource day at a local private school and was well received by the adults who saw the program. It is an excellent program for an “adulting” seminar as well as a general financial literacy program.
The educational program is presented through an interactive power point presentation with three parts that are normally covered in an hour. It is offered as a public service, with no intent to sell anything to our audience through the efforts of the volunteers.
For further information, please contact [email protected].