{"id":13309,"date":"2014-01-27T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/library\/?p=13309"},"modified":"2014-01-13T12:06:08","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T18:06:08","slug":"money-mondays-what-is-financial-literacy-and-why-should-i-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/library\/archives\/13309","title":{"rendered":"Money Mondays: What is Financial Literacy (And Why Should I Care)?"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>, the average household debt in 2011 was $70,000. You could buy an iPad Air for yourself and 139 friends with that kind of money! Money management does not come easily to most people, and unexpected expenses seem to appear every month. You may consider debt to be an unfortunate reality, but you can increase your wealth by becoming financially literate and making wise decisions with your money.<\/p>\n

Investopedia.com<\/a> (a great resource for deciphering business jargon) defines financial literacy as \u201cthe possession of knowledge and understanding of financial matters\u2026 mainly used in connection with personal finance matters.\u201d This may not sound terribly exciting to many non-business majors, but you\u2019re going to be thinking about personal finance for the rest of your life. If you don\u2019t believe me, consider the following: You\u2019ll have to figure out how to pay off your student loans. You\u2019ll need to determine if and how you should use a credit card. You might decide to invest in the stock market. You\u2019ll have to make judgment calls about insurance and retirement. These are all financial decisions, and you need to have enough information to make the best choice in each situation.<\/p>\n

This semester, we\u2019ll discuss a variety of personal finance topics and provide resources to ease your money-management headaches. We\u2019ll talk about:<\/p>\n

\"Money\"<\/p>\n