These 10 states do the best job of teaching kids about money

When high school graduates toss their caps in the air this spring, they probably won’t be thinking about grownup financial issues.

Yet, whether heading off to college or diving straight into the workforce, these teens will find themselves suddenly navigating the complicated world of adult money matters. They could be trying to grasp the terms of their student loan or feeling bewildered by exactly what credit is and why it matters.

“There’s a variety of financial concepts they should know,” said John Pelletier, director of the Champlain College Center for Financial Literacy in Burlington, Vermont.

“Do we only want people to learn about these things by experience and mistakes, or do we want to help them learn in advance so they don’t make mistakes that harm them?” Pelletier said.

As part of the center’s shout-out to Financial Literacy Month, which ends April 30, the center released a list of the top 10 states that do the best job of providing personal finance instruction to their high school students (below). The ranking is based on the center’s 2017 National Report Card on the topic.