Vital Financial aims to promote successful financial decision-making among high school students. We help students understand the financial concepts not taught in typical classroom settings. By addressing the insecurities faced when making financial decisions involving loans, savings, credit, bills, or budgeting, we foster a more prepared student. Success to us is making sure that our students develop a better understanding of finances with each session so that they can implement it within their lives.
What’s the Problem?
Teenagers are expected to go from raising their hand to use the bathroom to paying student loans, choosing their careers, and living on their own, all within a couple of months. While the high school graduation rate is at an all-time high of 84%, more than half of these students feel as if high school didn’t prepare them for the financial aspects of the real world. Today’s youth are forced to make critical financial decisions right out of high school without adequate knowledge or skills to do so appropriately.
People fail to realize the magnitude of their financial illiteracy until they’re older and forced to face the destructive consequences of their decisions.
As of 2018, outstanding student loan debt in the US totals $1.5 trillion – up $3 billion from 2014 – and 43% of those student loan borrowers aren’t making their payments. According to a study by National Endowment for Financial Education, only 24% of millennials demonstrate basic financial literacy. What makes that statistic even more alarming is that 69% of those same millennials surveyed, rated themselves highly in financial knowledge. Of today’s adults, 33% have yet to save a dime for their retirement, and nearly a quarter of households don’t have emergency savings. This crisis promises to haunt generations to come.
In today’s economy and culture, accumulating debt is easier than ever before. Online shopping invites spending sprees and financial institutions bombard consumers with countless opportunities to pay off one’s debt for another, fostering a downward spiral of money trouble. As today’s teenagers enter adulthood, learning financial basics is vital.
Our Approach
Vital Financial is dedicated to helping high schoolers make better financial decisions. We seek to increase financial awareness. Unlike most financial literacy institutions, we teach financial topics that are relevant to teenage lives. Instead of teaching concepts such as mortgages and 401k’s to 14-18 year-olds, as most programs do, Vital Financial sticks with age-appropriate topics such as budgets, student loans, and credit & debit cards. By teaching the most relevant concepts, Vital Financial leaves students more confident within their skills to harness better money habits throughout their lives.
Our Future
Using an agenda focused on educated decision making, Vital Financial foresees a future where students are confident with their money habits. Our sessions aim to have a profound impact on high school students by investing in them the ability to maintain a sustainable future. Financial planning promotes future growth and gives students the confidence and security to pursue their dreams.
