Kewho Min Asks, "Do Financial Literacy Classes Work?'

Kewho Min wonders if financial literacy is the true secret ingredient that's missing from Americans' struggle to manage--and master--their money. One of the organizations that Kewho read about in an NPR story on the subject: the Summer Youth Employment Program, a Washington, D.C.-based hub that connects 13,500 young adults with summer jobs at places like CVS and the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Kewho Min was particularly struck by the experience of a young man who was interviewed by NPR. The young man, says Kewho, credits the Summer Youth Employment Program for sitting him down to talk about getting a bank account. But two years after completing the curriculum, the same young man is described as still “figuring out exactly how to budget and set financial goals.”

Aren’t budgeting and achieving financial goals, more than anything, the essential part of personal finance management? Yet Kewho Min believes this is something that many of us struggle with at all ages.