Generation Money: Improving the Financial Literacy of America’s Teens
Compound interest is one of the core financial literacy concepts that students must understand as they begin to grow into their own financial responsibilities. The FINRA Foundation, in collaboration with the Consumer Federation of America and Channel One, launched Generation Money in January 2009 to help teach secondary school students about the power of compounding and other important financial lessons.
Today, the campaign incorporates several components, including:
- Classroom materials for display and instruction.
- Public service announcements.
- Broadcast news segments.
- On-demand video.
- Web-based learning resources for students and teachers.
- Sweepstakes to drive student interest.
Broadcasts by Channel One News introduce students to everyday money matters through stories that are relevant to them. Channel One News is the highest rated teen television program. Classroom posters and public service announcements featuring a pair of animated twins—Taylor and Tyler—show students the benefits of saving and budgeting, and the problems that come with too much credit card debt.
The Generation Money website provides access to the Taylor and Tyler animations, the Channel One personal finance broadcast news segments and classroom discussion guides to accompany them. The site also includes interactive games, a series of lesson plans on the mathematics of compound interest and articles on other financial topics.
The program reaches 5.8 million students in 270,000 classrooms across the United States in grades 7 through 12.